Nyeka Alston-Orisakwe, 18, of Boston, dressed as a nurse at her family's Halloween party, but without a job, she has not been able to stanch the financial bleeding at home.
Her single, unemployed mother, Dominique Alston, 36, postponed paying the cell phone bill to pay for the Halloween party instead. Alston receives only $1,700 in unemployment benefits and child support per month to take care of four children--far below the federal poverty level.
Alston's unemployment benefits are scheduled to expire in January, though she plans to apply for a 17-week extension: her last chance before bumping against the 99-week maximum.
Alston-Orisakwe's experience typifies the job searches of millions of teenagers. It's been the worst year for teenagers to find employment since the government started keeping track in 1948, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.
In the down economy skilled adults are applying for the same entry-level positions that students typically fill. As a result, it's next to impossible for many low-income teenagers to find work. Federal stimulus money for teen jobs expired at the end of June and the prospect of new federal funding for teen jobs is unlikely.
That has left a group of idle low-income teens, often with unemployed parents, unable to develop professional skills and step in to support their families.
"If it comes between my children being happy or the choice being late on the bill, I'll make my children happy," said Alston, who has been unemployed ever since her temporary administrative job at Children's Hospital Boston ended in June. "I wish I could just snap my fingers, and she gets a job."
Nyeka Alston-Orisakwe has applied to more than 15 retailers around Boston, ranging from Dunkin' Donuts to Old Navy and movie theaters, without a single interview for a long-term job.
(Pictured: Nyeka Alston-Orisakwe, 18, of Boston, in her room.)
The only store that called her back: an Aeropostale looking for temporary work during Black Friday weekend. A line of about ten people stood behind her as she was interviewed at the cash register. Aeropostale did not call her again.
There were 12.5 million U.S. teens without a job on an average month this year, up from 10.4 million in 2005 and 8.7 million in 2000, according to Northeastern's Center for Labor Market Studies.
The average percentage of teenagers with jobs nationwide has been nearly cut in half since 1999 to 26 percent. There were 28 applications for every hiring in the retail sector--jobs that teens typically go after -- between January and November of 2010, according to the Kronos Retail Labor Index.
"Nationally, it's devastating," said Neil Sullivan, executive director of the Boston Private Industry Council. "A whole generation is going through their teenage years without any paid work experience."
Low-income minorities are at a particular disadvantage when searching for jobs because they live in neighborhoods with fewer jobs and have fewer connections and less access to transportation, according to Northeastern's Andrew Sum. 
Nationwide, he said, only 13 percent of low-income African-American teenagers and 17 percent of low-income Hispanic teenagers are employed. By contrast, 35 to 37 percent of upper-middle-class white teenagers are employed.
"Kids who really need help the most and could raise their family incomes the most are getting the work the least," he said.
Year-round jobs are more beneficial than summer jobs, Sum added, because the opportunities are more varied, and there is enough time for teenagers to interact meaningfully with mentors in the workplace.
But Boston's city government has devoted the vast majority of those resources to summer jobs. The city government's Boston Youth Fund funded 3,200 youth jobs this past summer, while the Boston Youth Fund is funding only 500 part-time teen jobs during the school year.
"To come up with money to pay young people all year-round--that is hugely expensive," said Conny Doty, director of the Mayor's Office of Jobs and Community Services, who described summer and year-round jobs as equally valuable. "It's just not realistic."
During an interview at her home in Dorchester, Boston's largest neighborhood, Alston-Orisakwe said she became more responsible and self-confident when she worked at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo. She earned $8 per hour there for the past three summers through the city's Boston Youth Fund and through the zoo's Teen Ambassadors program during the previous school year.
She used to cry when other teenagers made fun of her, and temporarily dropped out of high school during her freshman year because other students mocked her about her clothes and short hair. Then, after learning to answer zoo visitors' questions about animals, she started to speak with poise and self-confidence.
"Back then, you say one bad thing to me, I'd cry," she said. "Before, I never liked talking to people... The zoo helped me talk to people. Now I'm not afraid to answer you if you had a question. If you had a question now, I'd be proud to answer."
Then her job ended in August.
"I need a job," she said. "It's my senior year, and I need to save money for school and a car and to help my mom out."
But she's had no luck so far. When she asked a local Halloween costume store whether she might get a call back after she had applied, a cashier said it depends on her availability. Then she knew she was not going to get a call.
"They have to realize people are in school, so not everyone is available from 9 in the morning to 9 at night," she said, sitting on a chair in her family's living room, her arms crossed against her pink jacket. "They don't want to even at least call you to try for an interview. They don't even want to do that, which is stupid."
Now, Alston-Orisakwe spends much of her time at home, watching television, hanging out with friends, sleeping, or lying on her bed listening to music, gazing at posters of Marilyn Monroe in her room. Inspired by the TV show "Project Runway," she dreams of someday moving to California and becoming a fashion stylist. If she is accepted and can pay for tuition, she hopes to study fashion and retail management next year at the New England Institute of Art.
But glamor is out of reach for now, as she shops only occasionally now. Outside, she can hear neighbors arguing, cursing loudly, and sometimes having fist fights.
Alston-Orisakwe said she is not going to bide her time waiting for employers to call her back.
"I'm going to start calling up places and start harassing them," she said. "That's what you got to do now. I'm just going to keep applying until I get a job."
Her mother, Dominique Alston, said that employers are opting for older workers with more experience, but if teenagers never get hired then they will remain at a disadvantage. "If somebody doesn't give them that chance, they never get it," she said.
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The world has become more technological which leaves a lot of people out of the technological loop because they believe they have no access to technology to help them but as long as there are libraries that is not true. The time she is spending gazing at Marilyn Monroe posters could be spent make connections that could really help you find money for school. That is how I put myself through school. I know it is hard to break away from hanging out with your friends but your future is more important. Jobs and money for school don't just throw themselves at you. You need to be proactive. If you aren't proactive enough to seek out opportunities how are you going to be proactive enough to keep the job once you get it?
You are 18 and a senior. If the college of your dreams is not a possibility, check out your nearest community college and try to get in there summer quarter. Apply for work study jobs. I do not know how it is now, but a few years ago there were more work study positions than there were eligible students. It is possible you could have a work-study job by summer. Don't worry about things like proms, cars except for work etc. In a recession, it might not be possible.
Consult with a career counselor and make sure you are aiming for something that will employ you after..nursing, health care, teaching (get a special education certification for sure). You will be an inspiration for all sorts of American girls in the same boat. mg
About supply and demand for jobs: Rght now it is suggested that young people go into nursing and health care, as these are growth fields. Unfortunately, today's growth field may be tomorrow's over populated field. Young people just need to be aware of how quickly the job market changes when they make their career decisions.
you have a point with the giving more love and affection (even though trying to show her kids a little bit of joy in their otherwise dreary exsistance WAS her way of showing love)
but realistically - how can anyone in that house hold even get a job with no phone? where would a prospective employer call back? no internet? nope doesn't work either because many many opportunities are found online - shoot, just to get a retail job you have to apply online.
Why is it that people who have always want to take from those with less? What can kids in an already f'd up situation do with no jobs and failing schools - get into trouble (hanging out cuz there is no where to go), having sex, and selling drugs - so the problem really snowballs and becomes a vicious cycle of poverty, ignorance, and apathy.
here's an idea - why don't the policy makers who see fit to take resources away from these kids and their families- try living under the conditions they condemn others to for say, a year; In the projects without good food, or health care, broke,angry people everywhere you turn AND constant pressure to pay bills, rent , transportation and no viable work in which to do so .... Then tell me about what a person can do without.
Make a kid happy? My bills would come first. That is the way life is.
I have been working since I was 14 (back in 1966.) I know many people in my age bracket, just a few years younger than you, many with multiple degrees and certificates, decades of work, truly extraordinary resumes, who do not have jobs. Some do some "consulting" which is paying lower and lower hourly wages these days.
Many are completely rethinking retirement. They are counting the days until they are 59 1/2 and can pull money out of their IRA's 401K's; they are counting the days until they are 62 and can take early social security.
Most of us counted on working until we were at least 66 (the age of full social security for our age group) and beyond. Many have not had a chance to really stash cash after they got the last kid through college and out of the house.
Unless you are living a sheltered life in a gated community, you would know that there are many people out there who have worked for what they got for years who are seeing much of it evaporate before their eyes.
We might only be talking $20-30 here.
I think we need to paint this is a piece of a larger puzzle: we need to focus primarily on the support and distribution of birth control. I'm happy that kids nowadays are having less and less children because they have the common sense to understand that if they had a child then they wouldn't be able to (DING DING DING DING) support him or her financially! Allow easier access to abortion clinics as well.
These people brought this upon themselves by being irresponsible as teenagers by having kids they couldn't possible raise and it is literally as simple as that. Now I absolutely feel for this girl as well as her siblings but if you want a job then you better stop clicking away on expensive text msgs on your expensive phone, pay some bills and not party, and learn some etiquette. Has she considered going to college??
Has she considered going to college? "I need a job," she said. "It's my senior year, and I need to save money for school and a car and to help my mom out." Obviously, you haven't noticed that the employment rate for college educated is also low. I read recently that 70% of this years college grads returned home after being unable to find work.
I now have a Master's degree in education. I am working as a substitute teacher. However, even this job is very tenuous and nets me on average two hundred dollars for a three day workweek. This may seem like I am being lazy, but you must understand that substitute work is not gauranteed. Worse still is the fact that most schools have been hit with such drastic budget cuts that they cannot forsee hiring another teacher for at least three years.
People like to point to the girl's clothing as a justification for her troubles. But beleive me, as someone who is always clean shaven, well mannered to the point of earning ridicule and who wears ironed dress shirts and dress pants to every interview, you can do everything "right" and still be left out in the cold.
So, Drbslurp, what did this guy do wrong? I'm sure you can come up with something...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-sellers/i-lost-my-job-last-friday_b_793552.html