A new report by the Alternative Schools Network and the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois shows that the country's major cities are plagued by high youth unemployment, and argues that violence is the result.
The report, titled "Lost: The Crisis Of Jobless and Out Of School Teens and Young Adults", directly connects the mounting death toll from gang violence in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York with an unresolved and worsening youth unemployment crisis.
Chicago is the epicenter of the youth unemployment crisis, with 22.9% of all youth between the ages of 20 and 24 out of work and out of school, compared to 21.1% in New York and 16.4% in Los Angeles and a national average of 18.2%.
African-American and Hispanic youth are particularly likely to be unemployed and out of school. 47% of young African-American men and 20% of young Hispanic men between the ages of 20 and 24 in Chicago are unemployed and not attending school. This is compared to 32% of young African-American men and 18% of young Hispanic men who are unemployed and out of school nationwide.
Jack Wuest, executive director of Alternative Schools Network, says the report's findings draw a straight line between youth unemployment and increasing violence in Chicago's poorest neighborhoods. The failure of policymakers to invest in meaningful job programs for youth is costing lives in America's inner-cities, said Wuest.
Nationally, while youth employment is slowly improving, it has not yet returned to its pre-recession levels. In 2005, 37% of Americans between the ages of 16 and 19 were employed. By 2011, that figure had fallen to 26%. In 2014, it had risen by only 3%, to 29%. The situation is much worse for African-Americans and Hispanics living in dense urban areas. In Chicago, 88% of African-American teens and 85% of Hispanic teens are unemployed.