Bowyer’s statement is not supported by the data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
(http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t01.htm)
The number of teens working increased in the last year:
Teens Employed May 2007: 5.61 million
Teens Employed May 2008: 5.90 million
The percentage of teens working increased in the last year:
Percentage of Teens With Jobs May 2007: 39.5%
Percentage of Teens With Jobs May 2008: 42.6%
Unemployment went up because the number of teens searching for work surged by 560,000 compared to last year:
Teens Working Or Looking For Work May 2007: 6.70 milllion
Teens Working Or Looking For Work May 2008: 7.26 million
Strangely, Jerry Bowyers says absolutely nothing about the impact of immigration - legal and illegal - on the ability of teenagers to find low skill jobs.
Also, Bowyers says nothing about a fact that is obvious to those who are actually looking for work - almost all low skill jobs pay MORE than minimum wage.
Also, with unemployment at 5.5% that is low. But if we really look it is telling us we are 94.5% of the available population to work is employed.
Looking at the BLS publications did speak to teens and teenagers unemploment rates. It was the highest rate per BLS published document (June 2008) and a roughly an 8% increase from prior (Apr-Jun 2007) BLS ublication. Yes it occurrs annually during the summer, however with the increased minamum wage it would have an impact on businesses. Maybe not a tremendous one but an impact none the less to increase the over all rate by almost 1% from April (4.3%) to May (5.5%) 2008.
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(Bolded is my emphasis): [http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.htm]
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Friday, June 6, 2008. THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: MAY 2008 The unemployment rate rose from 5.0 to 5.5 percent in May, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down (-49,000), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. In May, employ- ment continued to fall in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and temporary help services, while health care continued to add jobs. Average hourly earnings rose by 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, over the month. Unemployment (Household Survey Data) The number of unemployed persons increased by 861,000 to 8.5 million in May, after seasonal adjustment, and the unemployment rate rose by 0.5 per- centage point to 5.5 percent. A year earlier, the number of unemployed per- sons was 6.9 million, and the jobless rate was 4.5 percent. (See table A-1.) The unemployment rates for adult men (4.9 percent), adult women (4.8 per- cent), teenagers (18.7 percent), whites (4.9 percent), and blacks (9.7 per- cent) rose in May. The jobless rate for Hispanics (6.9 percent) was unchanged. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) Among the unemployed, the number of reentrants and new entrants to the labor force rose in May, by 326,000 and 204,000, respectively. The number of persons who had lost their last job increased by 268,000 over the month to 4.3 million. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed job losers has risen by 907,000. (See table A-8.) The number of newly unemployed--those jobless fewer than 5 weeks--rose by 760,000 to 3.2 million in May. The number of persons unemployed for 27 weeks or more increased by 197,000 to 1.6 million. This group accounted for 18.3 per- cent of the unemployed in May. (See table A-9.) Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data) The civilian labor force rose by 577,000 to 154.5 million in May, and the labor force participation rate edged up to 66.2 percent. Total employment was little changed at 146.0 million. The employment-population ratio, at 62.6 per- cent, also was little changed over the month. (See table A-1.) The number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons, at 5.2 mil- lion in May, was essentially unchanged over the month but was up by 764,000 over the past 12 months. These individuals indicated that they were working part time because their hours had been cut back or they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-5.) About 7.7 million persons held more than one job in May. Multiple jobholders represented 5.3 percent of the employed, the same as a year earlier. (See table A-6.)
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[http://www.bls.gov/news.release/youth.nr0.htm] From April to July 2007, the number of employed youth 16 to 24 years old increased by 2.3 million to 21.7 million, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. July is the traditional summer- time peak for youth employment. This summer’s increase in youth employment was slightly lower than last year's 2.5 million increase. Unemployment among youth increased by 548,000 between April and July, a smaller rise than in 2006. (Because this analysis focuses on the seasonal changes in youth employment and unemployment that occur every spring and summer, the data are not seasonally adjusted.) Labor force The youth labor force--16- to 24-year-olds working or actively looking for work--grows sharply between April and July each year. During these months, large numbers of high school and college students take or search for summer jobs, and many graduates enter the labor market to look for or begin permanent employment. This summer, the youth labor force grew by 2.9 million to a total of 24.3 million in July. (See table 1.) The labor force participation rate for youth--the proportion of their population working or looking for work--was 65.0 percent in July 2007, down from 66.7 percent in July 2006 and about 13 percentage points below its peak for that month in 1989 (77.5 percent). Over the 1989-2007 period, the proportion of youth enrolled in school in July trended up; youth enrolled in school are much less likely than those not in school to be in the labor force. The July 2007 labor force participation rates for 16- to 24-year-old men (67.9 percent) and women (62.1 percent) were lower than a year earlier. For several decades prior to 1989, young men’s July labor force participation rate showed no clear trend, ranging from 81 to 86 percent. Since July 1989, however, their participation rate has declined by about 15 percentage points. Young women’s July labor force participation rate peaked in 1989 after a long-term upward trend; their rate has fallen by about 10 percentage points since then. The July participation rates for whites (68.0 percent), blacks (54.1 per- cent), and Hispanics (59.5 percent) declined over the year. For all three groups, labor force participation rates were more than 10 percentage points lower than their peak levels for July 1989. The participation rate for Asian youth in July 2007 (49.4 percent) was not much different from July 2006. (See table 2.) - 2 - Employment In July 2007, 21.7 million 16- to 24-year-olds were employed. The em- ployment-population ratio for youth--the proportion of the 16- to 24-year- old civilian noninstitutional population that was employed--was 58.0 per- cent, 1.2 percentage points lower than in July 2006. The ratio has fallen by about 11 percentage points since its peak in July 1989. The July 2007 employment-population ratios for young men (60.3 percent), whites (61.7 percent), and Hispanics (52.5 percent) were lower than a year earlier; the rates for young women (55.6 percent), blacks (43.0 percent), and Asians (45.6 percent) were little changed. (See table 2.) In July 2007, 22 percent of employed youth worked in the leisure and hospitality industry (which includes food services) and 20 percent worked in retail trade. In addition, nearly two-fifths of employed youth worked in education and health services, professional and business services, government, construction, and manufacturing combined. (See table 3.) Unemployment In July 2007, 2.6 million youth were unemployed. The youth unemployment rate (10.8 percent) was little different from July 2006. The July 2007 un- employment rates for young men (11.1 percent), women (10.4 percent), whites (9.3 percent), Asians (7.7 percent), and Hispanics (11.8 percent) showed little change from a year earlier. The rate for black youth (20.5 percent) decreased over the year. (See table 2.)