Young Workers
Labor Center Reports
Young Workers Overview
Young Workers Resources
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Working youth under the age of twenty five are the forgotten workers
of twenty-first century America. Young people work predominantly in
low wage jobs in the service sector - often in "dead end jobs" or
"McJobs" located in restaurants, malls, retail outlets, movie theatres,
theme parks, and so on. Despite the fact that youth work is often
highly exploitative - young workers have poverty rates about twice
the nation's over all average and are the least likely demographic
group to be unionized - there is little public dialogue about the
experience of young people in the workplace.
When young workers are represented in the popular media, the image
tends to be one of a middle-class fifteen or sixteen year old, still
living at home, getting his or her first experience in the workforce,
earning some extra pocket money, and having no 'real' financial needs.
This stereotype is often mobilized to justify rock-bottom wages and
benefits in low-end service jobs. The image obscures the fact that
there are large numbers of working youth from working-class and poor
family backgrounds whose minimum wage earnings constitute critical
contributions to their families and households. It also obscures the
fact that most of the workers we think of today as being "youth" are
actually in their late teens and twenties - young people are increasingly
getting stuck and floundering for many years in dead-end jobs as they,
often unsuccessfully, pursue higher education.
In recent years, a growing number of unions and youth groups in the
U.S. and Canada have sought to draw attention to the challenges facing
young workers and to find ways to organize them into unions. But the
challenges are tremendous and there is much work to do.
Photo by David Bacon
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Facts:
More than 60% of workers ages 16-24 work in the nation's service sector.
Schlosser, 2001. Fast Food Nation
McDonald's is the nation's largest youth employer.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1997. "A Portrait of the Working Poor 1997."
In 1997, workers under the age of 25 had poverty rates of about twice the
country's overall average (11.6% for workers 16-24 compared to 5.7% for all
workers).
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001.
Young workers are the least likely age group in the nation to be members of
unions (5.3% of workers ages 16-24 are union members compared to 13.9% for all
workers ages 16 and older).
The College Board, 2001. "Trends in Student Aid."
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