WASHINGTON — Youth unemployment reached its highest level in more than 60 years this fall, after steady increases over the past decade.
Young Latinos had the fewest jobs, with 29.5 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds unemployed, according to figures for September released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In response, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute has launched two programs to help Latino high school students better prepare for employment opportunities, primarily through financial education and college.
“It’s critical that we educate high school students from a financial literacy standpoint,” said Scott Gunderson Rosa of the caucus. “This understanding will be relevant as they go out and get jobs to support themselves and their families, or when they are saving money for college. This will give them more knowledge to make smarter decisions with the money they have.”
The Ready to Lead Program focuses on motivating Latino students to complete their high school education and understand that a college degree is attainable. A technology gap has restricted many young Americans from jobs that require specific skills taught in schools, so the program is trying to teach youth that a full high school education is vital for anyone competing in today’s job market.
The program offers a one-day intensive training seminar primarily in heavily populated Latino urban areas such as New York, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles. The workshop trains high school students in preparing a strong college application, learning financial basics and developing leadership traits.
“The program isn’t focused on helping young people get a job per se,” Rosa said, “but helping them get to know what a money market account is, what interest rates are, basic things they may not be aware of.”
Most public school systems across the U.S. do not offer personal finance or employment-preparation training. As a result, there is widespread variation in the quantity and quality of information provided to young people.
Technological advances and global competition are continuously changing the job market. Students need to understand the dynamics of the labor market in order to prepare for not only today’s economy, but also for tomorrow’s, said Dr. Algernon Austin, an expert on race, ethnicity and the economy at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
Austin said labor market and financial education should be integrated into every high school curriculum to provide students who don’t earn a college degree with some guidance in starting and succeeding in their careers.
“General financial education is important given the problems that we’ve seen with lending institutions, knowing they’ve affected the Hispanic community disproportionately,” said Austin. “So it’s important for [Latino high school students] to get as much financial education as they can.”
In a partnership with Visa Inc. and Mexican soccer star Jorge Campos, the CHCI introduced an educational video game called “Financial Soccer” that integrates the world’s most popular sport with basic financial concepts.
“Visa’s game channels the passion for football and helps make learning about money management entertaining,” FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke told the caucus.
Soccer legend Campos met with about 30 Latino high school students from the Washington area last week to introduce the new game and deliver a message about how the game can influence their futures.
“Money management is a crucial life skill that is essential to success,” Campos told them.
“Financial Soccer” challenges players to answer fast-paced personal finance questions correctly in order to advance down the field for a chance to score a goal. The game has three levels of difficulty and is offered in both Spanish and English. The questions cover key concepts about saving, responsible spending, budgeting and the use of credit.
“This is an effective tool, especially for young Latinos, because they’re so interested in soccer,” said Rosa. “And they can use that to become educated in something they need to be aware of.”
According to research from the Economic Policy Institute, teen unemployment leads to fewer long-term employment opportunities, reduced earnings and a decrease in labor productivity in the future.