(COLORADO SPRINGS) – As the thirty-first season of the Governor’s Summer Job Hunt Program moves forward, job counselors who assist teens at the Pikes Peak Workforce Centers report that the summer of 2011 is shaping up to be a tough one – perhaps one of the toughest yet -- for high school and college students looking for work experience. Approximately 3,000 young people are currently registered and looking for a summer job with Pikes Peak Workforce Center in Colorado Springs and its satellite office in Cripple Creek. Connecting those young people with job opportunities is a challenge for Workforce Center staff.
Youth-friendly employers are the strength of the Governor’s Summer Job Hunt program. Without them, there are no summer jobs, no exposure to the world of work, no access to career track employment opportunities. The best of these participating local business people aren’t merely providing summer employment, they are help teens succeed, helping students take that first transitional step from school to career.
Last year, when the average annual unemployment rate for Colorado adults stood at 8.7 percent, the unemployment rate for 16 to19 year olds was 25.3 percent. To put some perspective on it, five years ago, the annual average unemployment rate for adults was 4.2 percent. But even in that strong economy, teens between the ages of 16 and 19 still had a much higher unemployment rate (15.9 percent).
The fact is, in good times and bad, high school and college students are always at a disadvantage because they are less experienced, less confident and are usually looking to work for a limited number of weeks. Just as they were last summer, these usual disadvantages are compounded by the economic downturn.
When employers can offer teens a place to earn and learn, they are investing in the workforce of the future and impacting those teen more than they could have realized. The Council of Economic Advisors wrote in a 2010 report that deep downturns in the economy have a particularly adverse effect on young Americans. “Teens who first enter the labor market during a recession can have trouble getting their feed onto the first rung of the career ladder, leaving them a step or more behind throughout their lives,” the report says.
“There’s no question that the outlook for work has improved over last summer,” says Department of Labor and Employment Executive Director Ellen Golombek, “but things haven’t improved to the point that there won’t still be challenges ahead.” She notes that the Governor’s Summer Job Hunt is important in tough economic times “because it helps teens learn of job opportunities and understand how to market themselves to employers.”
Teens can learn more about the program by visiting the Department of Labor and Employment’s website at http://www.colorado.gov/cdle/youth. Employers who can give young people an opportunity to learn, to put skills to use and see firsthand how a business operates, should contact the Pikes Peak Workforce Center at 2306 East Pikes Peak Avenue in Colorado Springs (phone: 719-667-3700) or at the Aspen Mine Community Center, 166 E Bennett Avenue in Cripple Creek (phone: 719-689-3584 x13; call for hours of operation in Cripple Creek). Or go to http://www.ppwfc.org/ and click on the Youth Zone link.
“Employer participation is critical,” stresses Ellen Golombek. “The Governor’s Summer Job Hunt is depending on every community-minded employer to find just one job for a teen. Whenever a young person is encouraged, enlightened or empowered, each of us everywhere is enriched.”
