Unemployed, Out-Of-School Youth Costing American Taxpayers Nearly $14,000 Per Year, Report Finds

A sizable minority of America's youth aren't in school or attached to the labor force. And it's costing taxpayers big.

About 17 percent of America's young people are "opportunity youth" -- or people ages 16-24 who aren't attached to the labor force -- according to a report prepared by researchers for the Corporation for National and Community Service and the White House Council for Community Solutions (h/t Think Progress). Each one of these 6.7 million young people is costing taxpayers $13,900 per year and it doesn't stop there. After 25 years old, they'll cost taxpayers $170,740 over their lifetime, the report found.

That means that in total, those currently classified as so-called opportunity youth will cost taxpayers $1.56 trillion in present value terms over their whole lifetime.

"Both taxpayers and society lose out when the potential of these youth is not realized," the report said.

With the unemployment rate at elevated levels for months, young people have been feeling the consequences. Mike Konczal, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, found in November that youth joblessness in America was in line with levels of youth unemployment during the Arab Spring.

Teenage job-seekers are having an especially tough time as older, more experienced workers snap up part-time positions usually reserved for teens in a better economy. The unemployment rate for Americans ages 16-19 was 25 percent in 2011 -- nearly three times the jobless rate of the overall labor force. During the summer, a time of typically high employment for youth, the unemployment rate for Americans aged 16 to 24 was twice as high as the national jobless rate.

The high levels of out-of-work young people will likely have long-term implications, including a boost in poverty, increased reliance on social safety net programs and maybe even illegal activities, according to researchers at Rutgers University.

But prospects for unemployed youth may be getting brighter. Nearly two-thirds of the jobs employers added between August and October went to Americans between the ages of 16 and 24.

 

Comments

[Woofer58]

01:03 PM on 01/31/2012

...and if they end up in prison, that amount goes way up. In California it costs over 50,000 per year to keep someone in prison.

[fortressfountain]

01:46 PM on 01/20/2012

Youth may account for a lot of crime but is it because they are high school drop outs? Who has the statistics.
Wow, the ad I see on television sponsored by Dollar General shows them working jobs the politicans say we should embrace.
Moping floors, stocking shelves etc.
A lot of people who graduated from college are now working these kinds of jobs-not much training or education required.
Since most jobs being created are low skill-it is a waste to go into debt for a college education-sounds like a waste of time and money to me.
I would bet-that a lot of crime is committed by people who are not working, have no money and too much time on their hands.
But the leadership in high crime cities will deny that and fudge the actual statistics.
When people are convicted of crimes they do not committ they will plead guilty to lessor charges and this also makes crime statistics appear lower.

[mdsman]

03:47 PM on 01/19/2012

And the largest fiscal and social burden is........CRIME
Accounts for $27k/youth

But if we address that, we are bad people

[fortressfountain]

12:27 PM on 01/19/2012

How is unemployed youth costing the taxpayer zip? Most live at home with their parents.
I suppose the cost is so high because a lot of retail wants the gov. to fund their non-profits and such for providing GEDS.
Just curious as to why retail would believe a high school diploma is needed to work 10 hours a week at one of their stores?

[VPerry24]

01:38 PM on 01/19/2012

Besides a few at Lowe's and Home Depot I don't know anyone working 10 hours in retail. We have created a new category called "intermittent employees" who get 3 to 19 hours per week.
I hear Walmart cut their full time employees back after XMAS to 34 hours a week, and that tells us a lot. If I want to put someone on the register I would prefer they have a high school diploma and can count back the change or read and understand a training roster. I know we hire college grads to answer the phone for a few hours a day.

[trron9]

11:59 AM on 01/19/2012

With unemployment at record highs, 4 Million+ people out of work and a new generation of young workers unable to obtain jobs our economic situation is critical! We must get America working again! To many Businesses have sent work overseas for cheaper labor and larger profits, we need to limit imports and offer greater incentives to new businesses that create jobs! I fault Politicians both Democrats and Republicans alike for there failed policies and the economic down turn! More needs to be done to educate our youth, training programs and such to prepare them for the work force! Student Loan incentives such as non-repayment if a you successfully graduates college and work consistently your field for 7-10 years or more! Part of the money could be recooped in taxes they pay versus being under educated, unemployed and a burden on the tax dollar! Although these are but a few thoughts we need to explore new ideas and find real solutions!

[VPerry24]

01:40 PM on 01/19/2012

...remember what Newt Gingrich said, get a job and get a better job but there are no jobs!!!!
Talk about being out of touch with what it is like in the real world. Unemployment figures fell today and gas prices immediately rose though there is no rosy picture out there, everywhere I look people are getting laid off.

[berrycuda]

11:26 AM on 01/19/2012

Stop teaching these kids worthless garbage and maybe they could get a job...

Not everyone can sit at a desk and do nothing but shuffle paper everyday, some people need to actually work...

[Kai-HK]

05:28 AM on 01/19/2012

Good to see minimum wage laws working exactly as expected, prohibiting wages for low marginal productivity jobs dropping to a market-clearing level and thus keeping people more unemployed than is necessary.

Kai

[Kevin byDesign]

05:15 AM on 01/19/2012

Being Wealthy doesn't automatically mean you create Jobs. The fact that so few individuals relatively hold the majority of Global Wealth (That much talked about%) Seems to squander innovation & risk for guaranteed short term profits.
Times sure have changed.. When I was 16 I had two jobs worked 40 hours a week & went to High School. Entry level Jobs were abundant. Now Even a Job at McDonnell's is hard to get.
Education is part big part of the solution~ but lets be honest ~50% of the population's IQ will always be under 100.. Moving manufacturing job overseas has severed their bridge to the Middle Class .
The article says, "Those currently classified as so-called opportunity youth will cost taxpayers $1.56 trillion in present value terms over their whole lifetime."
That is Just about what the Iraq/ Afghanistan war cost... It goes to show the 1% doesn't always make good choices on how to spend money or create jobs.

[WARHUKKER]

10:08 AM on 01/19/2012

Being Wealthy doesn't automatica­lly mean you create Jobs Being poor means you automatically DON'T create jobs.

[VPerry24]

01:42 PM on 01/19/2012

Listen, if the 1%ers had any brains at all they would not have sunk this country into the ground
and invested in foreign lands. We want our people, the 99%ers loyal and patriotic but that does not seem to apply to the rest, a little flag on the lapel will do!

[Jerome Bigge]

04:00 PM on 01/20/2012

The majority of Americans would be better off as Canadians, Europeans, or Japanese. If you measure a person's chances to succeed, you are going to find that the US is a pretty poor place to do it in. In a list of countries where the chances of success are less, the US and the UK lead the list. Also, in the rest of the developed world, health care is a right, not a privilege like it is in the US. Seek out a book called "The Spirit Level" and you will learn these facts that our politicians here in the US don't want you to know.

[hafnercal]

04:19 AM on 01/19/2012

Go to any private college website and look at the tuition for one year $20,000.00 to $50,000.00 for one year. Can you imagine having a $100,000.00 loan for a Bachelor's Degree? American's everywhere need to question their colleges and universities about where all the money is going. WHERE??? Yes we will have a whole generation of wasted youth if we don't start TODAY. Pressure your colleges to disclose where the money is being spent. We owe it to the youth in this story to make it more affordable for them to go to college. It's our future!!!

[Kai-HK]

05:38 AM on 01/19/2012

Why go to a private college? Do your degree at a community college for the first two years and then transfer to a cheap 4-year college. Easily done.

Maricopa Community College is 2,280/year
Arizona State University is 9,500/year
http://www.maricopa.edu/

In total, $23,560 for 4 years, or on average $5,890/year.

Minimum wage is about $7.65, or about $15,912/year. Why would you even bother taking out a loan when you can easily afford it with a min wage job.

I did exactly that, and it allowed me to go onto bigger and better things, get more degrees, and now I work for an investment bank.

Easily done. Next?

Kai

[Curmudgeon H]

11:46 AM on 01/19/2012

I don't know when you supposedly did this, but it's not that easy anymore.

I went to a "cheap" 4-year college and only got an associates degree and it cost me $20,000. I got no financial aid, bc I was under 25 so they went off my parents taxes also, even though they weren't helping me. Also, even with your numbers, it's not easily afforded with a min wage job. You're not factoring in rent, groceries, phone bill... which all adds up. And on top of all that, even if you found a school that only cost that much, you have to pay a certain amount before you can start attending and not many young people have that laying around.

[bredlaum]

03:19 PM on 01/19/2012

Kai, well thought-out and good information for those that are truly motivated.
Thanks

[trron9]

12:57 PM on 01/19/2012

Colleges need to lower tuition rates to make education more affordable for all not just the privileged few! In a effort to get young people to further there education I'd like to see a Non-Repayment of Student Loans if a New Grad works in there field of study for 7-10 years! The fact there working, paying taxes would help offset some of the initial cost! The down side if there under educated, unemployed, in prison on welfare etc. they become a burden to the tax payer! To invest in there education is to invest in America's future! Should they not finish College or fail to use there degree they'd be obligated to repay the student loan! Also while attending College they'd be obligated to so many hours of community service! A working America is a strong America!

[Y3rMawm]

03:30 AM on 01/19/2012

Choose your majors wisely, kids. Of course the costs would not be nearly as high without government guaranteed loans, and non-dischargeable debt.

[Woofer58]

01:08 PM on 01/31/2012

yeah... learn to be a "drug test" provider.

I understand that may be the biggest thing on the employment horizon....

[zeitgeisttt]

11:27 PM on 01/18/2012

The title should read....Banksters Costing American Taxpayers

[Berettasskeeter]

09:11 AM on 01/19/2012

Nonsense. This is a direct result of the government getting involved in guaranteeing loans, and; colleges branching out into "politically correct" arenas, such as feminist literature! This has nothing to do with the banks, and everything to do with the Fed!
Semper fi

[UberdanSounds]

11:51 AM on 01/19/2012

I'm sure this comment received a bunch of glazed over eyes!
"Huh?!"

You are 100% correct though! Same story as the Housing Market.

[Woofer58]

01:12 PM on 01/31/2012

...and maybe, in California anyway, the regents and 'management' of the university system make salaries like corporate hustlers. I think it's a little weird that there are professors that make more than the Governor AND have better retirement benefits than God.
just saying....

[saldog]

10:25 PM on 01/18/2012

It is hard to find a job when one hand is on a bong and the other one is playing Tour of Duty. Try to save up all you can for your family and move to a town that has good finances. I doubt this young generation can save the entitlement programs that they are expected support. Many can't even get out of the house.

[NotaLiborCon]

09:31 PM on 01/18/2012

I'm so tired hearing about the unemployed and the unemployment rate. my company just hired a number of people at our plant in eastern TN, Hald alf didn't show up the first day and the other half quit after a few days!

More and more people just don't want to work.

[wtf is this]

10:40 PM on 01/18/2012

Wouldn't have anything to do with the pay & working conditions, would it?

[Peanut Santiago]

02:24 AM on 01/19/2012

Nah, the job creators never do anything wrong.

{sarcasm)

[Y3rMawm]

03:32 AM on 01/19/2012

Might have more to do with receiving a check in the mail two weeks after having filled out the proper gumbint forms. Might have a little to do with feeling entitled to a job after graduating with that Lib Arts degree.

Just sayin'

[seegray]

11:22 PM on 01/18/2012

BS....you made that up because it suits your need to comment.

[Raiderthree]

08:02 AM on 01/19/2012

BS....you made that up because it suits your need to comment.

[VPerry24]

01:46 PM on 01/19/2012

I read somewhere yesterday where 1500 bloggers were hired to dispute what the rest of us are saying! Makes one think!

[ConservativeChampion]

07:48 PM on 01/18/2012

More unintended consequences of letting Liberals have free reign in the educational system.

So tired of the Left. Everything they touch falls apart.

[edusa]

09:35 PM on 01/18/2012

the Red states have the worst schools

[Raiderthree]

08:04 AM on 01/19/2012

Hawaii is last, have you seen products of that blue state education system?

[Berettasskeeter]

09:14 AM on 01/19/2012

And you got that.. from where??
Semper fi

[wtf is this]

10:42 PM on 01/18/2012

As opposed to the right cutting funding on education. Not exactly free reign.

[Y3rMawm]

03:34 AM on 01/19/2012

Which cuts would those be? With the exception of 2010 ( or perhaps 2011...details) Education funding has increased every year for the last 30 years.

It took more than the last 12 months to become this stupid.

[Berettasskeeter]

09:15 AM on 01/19/2012

Please illustrate even ONE cut to education funding.
Semper fi

[joyz41]

07:43 PM on 01/18/2012

Wealthy retirees should not be given social security checks. Then there would be money to lower the retirement age and leave jobs for younger people.

Social security was supposed to provide basic retirement for the elderly. It is government program to prevent poverty, not a private investment.

[J T K]

03:59 AM on 01/19/2012

But you still want them to pay in and pay for your retirement right? You want the government to steal from the rich to give to the poor? That's what it is, at least with most other taxes everyone benefits, even if they don't benefit equally. Asking the rich to pay in, especially since people now want the rich to pay more, would be outright theft. Eliminate the cap but have people get paid out what they paid in, no more, no less.

[RobertAdams]

04:47 AM on 01/19/2012

No one said that. You did. Yes they are entitled to recieve a check if they want it. But if you are making so much from other investments just leave it go or disqualify them. It's nothing to them and the intention of the government program is part of the law that governs disbursement so it's not like you weren't pre warned. It's not about punishing rich people, so quit acting like these people are being persecuted. It's about helping the people who are in need. Some people did not work in professions that allowed them to place dollars above their duties. No one gets rich being a garbage man or soldier or nanny.

[emw1]

11:14 AM on 01/19/2012

The Gov. repeatidly steals money from the SS fund and puts it into the general fund! This is part of the problem.

[Raiderthree]

08:06 AM on 01/19/2012

Why they paid into it.