The statistics are staggering.
Among Americans between the ages of 16 and 24, unemployment stands at 17 percent, almost twice the national average. When we limit the field to teenagers alone, unemployment is close to 25 percent. Young people who have found work are not faring much better; the numbers show that some 40 percent of them are underemployed, meaning they have only secured part-time jobs, contract work or temporary positions.
While the statistics for young adults who are college graduates are more encouraging (the unemployment rate for college graduates is half that of those who just have a high school diploma), the impact that such widespread unemployment and underemployment could have on an entire generation is painful to imagine. As “Harper’s” writer Jeff Madrick said in an interview with the radio show “Marketplace,” “(America’s young people are) on a path to tragedy as a generation.”
The problem is that unemployment and underemployment create a cascading effect of problems for individuals and communities. Medical professionals have demonstrated that, among those who cannot find work, excessive alcohol consumption, mental health issues (including depression and anxiety) and health problems (ranging from headaches to stomach problems to infections) become common. When large numbers of young people are unemployed, civic leaders begin to worry about drug abuse, property crime, gang activity and violence. To make matters worse, the effects are long-lasting. The physiological and psychological side effects linger, and studies show that even after those who have been unemployed at a young age finally find work, they earn 20 percent less for up to 20 years compared to their employed peers.
At Leadership Education, we believe a key to effective and faithful service is to overinvest in the young. It is a way that we talk about giving the young opportunities to grow and develop, to risk and fail, and to find their way as the next generation of Christian leaders, and it is one of the markers vital for vibrant institutional life and for long-term sustainability.
In this economic climate, though, the way we overinvest in the young may require new strategies such as making room for the young within our institutional ranks by creating jobs or internships that could help them secure meaningful work in the future. It may mean that congregations and other institutions will need to develop businesses akin to Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles. It may mean creating community-based partnerships that address questions of youth unemployment and develop imaginative, innovative responses to the problem.
There is a curious overlap in statistics about this upcoming generation. Not only are young adults struggling with issues of employment, but they are also struggling with the idea of faith. Perhaps if they find the church and Christian institutions caring about their work lives in tangible ways, their faith lives may follow.
