There are many issues that desperately need attention these
days, but I would suggest there is one that in the long run is more important
than all the others: The abysmal employment rate of our youth.
Here is the logic behind this assertion: the youth of America
represent our workforce in the next couple of decades. If our workforce is well
prepared, the economy will prosper (other things being equal) and there will be
adequate tax revenue to do lots of good things – improve the infrastructure,
support research, provide a safety net for those less-well-off, etc. etc. If the workforce is not well prepared, the
economy will not do as well, there won’t be as much tax revenue, American
companies won’t be as innovative and productive, and problems will multiply.
Now in today’s world it takes two things to really prepare
youth for their productive employment years. (1) it takes good education to
prepare them to work in a more technologically-advanced world, and (2) it takes
early work experience to establish the practical experience and work habits
that make them productive later.
There is already a revolution starting in higher education,
but elementary and secondary education, particularly in the public sector, is
still inadequate in many parts of the country. Still, there is progress in this
area, despite union opposition, and if it continues the situation will
eventually improve.
The youth unemployment issue, of the other hand, is getting
worse. As of June 2013, of youngsters 16 to 19, only about one in three is employed.
For young adults 20-24, about 60% are employed. Young people used to be able to get summer
jobs, and many expected to. But many of these jobs have now disappeared with
the restructuring of the economy, and out-of-work adults are now competing for
the remaining ones.
We are in danger of producing a whole generation of young
workers who lack the requisite education and/or work habits to be productive
workers in the economy of the next few decades.
This is a real time bomb.
And just to make the matter more dangerous, consider that
the civil and political unrest in much of the world, especially in the Arab
world, is driven by masses of unemployed and unemployable youth, disillusioned
with their economic status and ripe for exploitation by political demagogues
(of whom there are always plenty). So
this is much more than just an economic issue, it bears directly on the future civil
and political stability of the nation.
Thus far this is an issue our political leaders appear
unaware of. We ought to change that.
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