This report investigates a number of education and training programs involving employers in efforts to help disadvantaged young adults attain postsecondary credentials leading to career track employment. Our model programs meet four basic criteria: 
  1) Getting low-income youth and young adults postsecondary credentials that will allow them to enter and advance in career track employment. 
  2) Working with employers in industry sectors important to the region's economy. 
  3) Maximizing employer roles and commitment.
  4) Demonstrating portability, scalability, and replicability.

Connecticut's Dropout Crisis - This crisis not only ensures a life of poverty for too many of our young people but also is weakening our economy by depleting the workforce of capable employees.  It's also costing the government billions of dollars in social services and lost tax revenue. Realizing that improving dropout rates is a key to the area's economic success, Our Piece of the Pie, in conjunction with Capital Worforce Partners and with additional funding from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the Connecticut Office of Workforce Competitiveness, commissioned a study to examine the problem. The study, conducted by Dr. Andrew Sum of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, examined the social and economic impact of high school dropouts. He presented his findings at the Governor's Dropout Summit on October 19. The numbers are staggering.

Prepared By: Joseph McLaughlin,  Andrew Sum, Ishwar Khatiwada - Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
Prepared for: Our Piece of the Pie, Hartford, Connecticut

Prepared by: Andrew Sum, Ishwar Khatiwada, Joseph McLaughlin, with Sheila Palma, Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts

Prepared for: Our Piece of the Pie, Hartford, Connecticut

October 2009

The Collapse of the Nation's Male Teen and Young Adult Labor Market, 2000-2009: The Lost Generation of Young Male Workers, Andrew Sum, Joseph McLaughlin, Sheila Palma, Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University.

The nationâ??s male teens (16-19) have experienced a massive depression in their labor market conditions since 2000. In the June 2009 Employment Situation, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the employment rate of the nationâ??s male teens had fallen to 27.6%, the lowest employment rate by far in the month of June at any time since 1948 (Chart 2). At no time in the countryâ??s post-World War II history had the June employment rate of male teens ever fallen below 30% and at no time prior to June 2002 had the June employment rate of male teens fallen below 40%. In June of 2000, 46% of the nationâ??s male teens were employed as were 50% of those near the peak of the cyclical boom in June 1989 and 54% of those in June 1978 when federal job creation programs for teens under the CETA legislation, the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act of 1977, and CETA public service employment programs were at their peak enrollment levels.6 The employment rate of male teens in June 2009 was barely one half as high as it was in June 1978 and close to 20 percentage points below its value in June 2000. This truly constitutes a labor market depression for male teens in the U.S.

The Washington State Legislature passed Senate Bill 6261 in 2008, which calls for the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board to examine programs to help young people between 18 and 24 years of age be more successful in the workforce and make recommendations to improve policies and programs in Washington. Section 28 states:
     Conduct research into workforce development programs designed to reduce the high unemployment rate among young people between approximately eighteen and twenty-four years of age. In consultation with the operating agencies, the board shall advise the governor and legislature on policies and programs to alleviate the high unemployment rate among young people. The research shall include disaggregated demographic information and, to the extent possible, income data for adult youth. The research shall also include a comparison of the effectiveness of programs examined as part of the research conducted in this subsection in relation to the public investment made in these programs in reducing unemployment of young adults. The board shall report to the appropriate committees of the legislature by November 15, 2008, and every two years thereafter. Where possible, the data reported to the legislature should be reported in numbers and in percentages.

YO! Academy in Baltimore, MD released a report on its successes from 2006 through mid-year 2009. The findings include increased attendance rates and in increased participation rate in a variety of holistic services that include job readiness training and skills training as well as community service.

Attaining a post-secondary credential has become increasingly important for securing opportunities to get high-return jobs in the United States in the 21^st century. Students from low-income families are underrepresented at every milestone in the educational pipeline. That limits their ability to attain post-secondary credentials and break the intergenerational transmission of poverty. This study seeks to identify educational pathways to high-paying careers that may improve social mobility. We also assess the extent to which successful transit of these pathways is contingent upon students' educational preparation and performance. This study uses comprehensive data on the high school, postsecondary, and workforce experiences of every public school student in the state of Florida belonging to a cohort of 144,545 students in the 9th grade in 1996. Florida has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country, and thus faces particular challenges to increasing the educational attainment of its students.