Number: RL32871
Title: Youth: From Classroom to Workplace?
Authors: Linda Levine, Domestic Social Policy Division 
Abstract: A part of the discourse about remedies to potential labor shortages has involved older persons themselves and changes in immigration policy. Little consideration has been given to the role that might be played by the younger members of the workingage population, who are in part the focus of legislation being considered for reauthorization by the 109th Congress (the Workforce Investment Act, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act, and the Higher Education Act). Specifically, are the youngest replacements for retiring baby-boomers being fully utilized in the sense that most teenagers and young adults successfully transition from the classroom to the workplace? Which 16-24 year olds are, instead, more likely to impose costs on society rather than contribute to the economy as taxpayers?1 This report will examine the experience of youth in the labor force and attempt to shed some light on these matters.
Pages: 20
Date: April 20, 2005