51.7% of teens in DC unemployed; 36.2% in California

Ah, the Obama economy. Sort of like the Carter economy but without that horrific toothy grin to entertain us.

But as a young man during the Carter years, I can attest to the fact that it was virtually impossible to find a decent job. Even McDonald's was hiring adults desperate for a paycheck to feed their families.

For teenagers in Washington, D.C. and California, finding a job just got a lot harder:

As summer break approaches and school seasons conclude, teens in California will have a more difficult time finding a job than their demographic counterparts in every other state, according to Census Bureau data released by the Employment Policies Institute.

With 36.2 percent of its teens unable to find employment, California leads all other states in teen unemployment - only the District of Columbia, with its 51.7 percent teen unemployment rate, surpasses the Golden State.

Overall, teen unemployment rose in 17 states and Washington, D.C., between April 2011 and April 2012, and fell in 32 states.

Nationally, the teen unemployment rate stands at 24.9 percent, and has averaged above 20 percent for over 40 months. The number of employed teens fell by 14,000 from March to April 2012.

"Although the jobs outlook has improved slightly for summer 2012, teens searching for summer employment are still faced with more competition and less opportunity than past generations," said Michael Saltsman, research fellow at the EPI, in a statement.

When the analysis is broadened to include discouraged teens that have stopped actively looking for work but would still like a job, nearly every state experiences a jump in their teen unemployment rates, according to EPI analysis.

Further, a ‘Child living in poverty’ probably doesn’t even know it...

They seem to have their cell phones and electronic toys regardless of their station in life. I grew up in what I now know was a poor family, but I was seldom aware of it. I had a bike, a couple of fishing outfits (fresh & salt), my trusty .22, and was well fed and adequately clothed. We had a black & white TV and a couple of radios

If I wanted money for the movies, Asbury Park's amusements or some new fish hooks, I had to pick up a little work here or there. Cut some grass, shovel some snow, muck out a chicken coop, dig a footing course for an elderly neighbor, do some cleanup on a nearby construction project, etc. My first full time job came when I was 17 and enlisted in the Navy just after high school, so technically I was an unemployed teen until then.

I'm just guessing, but it is likely that some of the kids in question who are 'unemployed" actually do earn some money, but probably as a lookout for the local pusher.

Kids mowing lawns???? That’s so 1950s thinking. Everybody knows that kids don’t mow lawns nowadays. We have imported foreign workers, legal or otherwise, to do work such as that nowadays.

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Well, my son started a lawn business last summer. Couldn’t get a job elsewhere as he didn’t have any experience and all they hire around here are illegals. Now he’s a bagger at the commissary.

Taught him a lot — if you can’t get hired, start your own company.

Child labor laws have NOTHING to do with it. Everything to do with immigrants now willing to do jobs kids used to do.

When is the last time you saw a paper boy? All papers used to be delivered by young neighborhood boys on bikes. Now they are all delivered by an immigrant driving a car over a huge area that serves what a dozen boys routes used to serve.

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