Show I k 1 ree arse U U Us U's t s Pressing Problem of Youth TilE THE THREE Us U's PAUL C. C Senior Editor rid Book ook Year Book Book- Part I J by permission from 3 World Book Dook Year flood Bood lit c 1963 by Field Ens Ens' En s s s- Educational Corpora nations nation's youngsters arc p trouble One n million o or of between the ages of or 16 5 are arc adrift on our city f. f Most l arc school drop unschooled unskilled toyed loyed Their plight Is Isale ate atc their future bleak did d this explosive se sc What can cm be done Jane 1 this growing horde for forI forwe forwe I we cannot now find Jobs those hose ranks arc expected HI Il to b by 1970 might find Cind a group of oC Aimlessly clustered in a drugstore or orK orr K r around a street cor cor- smoking ciga- ciga Some sit idly on the eps of oC cheerless hous hous- inking and amI dreaming Caving hopeless hopes YOUNG Most- Most heir heir late teens or early earlys i. i s st Yet the problem they serious enough to make ld even before they be be- adults regardless of they live Jive or how they t their time Right now is particularly and threatening to beorse beorse be- be orse I is all this about Whose Who Whose se young oung p people ople What problem PARE yourself f for o r unpleasant facts The I States prides itself on system it itan an n estimated I rn on education in 1961 nd pd on its related ability ide jobs for lor its Us youth today young oung ns ans between the ages nd 25 are lo looking king for RISING as It may these young oung people up p the biggest single roup of unemployed in the United S States tes c in hi their brack brack- t least V twice as high ting lag at a faster rate rale older age groups future of these young young- according to former ry y of oC Labor Arthur J. J g is potentially the social condi- condi America today Their Theil says Robert Taber a Philadelphia educator great American trag- trag our time T P rOAN CAN BE DE done about re ire re is no simple anut an an- ut jut answers arc being In some places there signs signs' of oC lly ily however the pic- pic two lure Is grim Two principal factors arc responsible AS SOCIETY becomes more and more highly mechanized certain jobs disappear The remaining remaining re re- re- re jobs as well as the new ones that are arc created require require require re re- re- re quire an In increasing degree of or skill skin That is one factor in the picture The second is a human hum hum- an problem Almost all aU of or the youngsters I included In the current legion of oC the unemployed are arc so- so called dropouts students who left leU school before they earned a diploma Theirs are arc the faces laces that were miss missing ng from the high school year books book IF PRESENT predictions hold true moreover their number will increase in the years rears ahead As matters mailers stand today oday 40 out of every youngsters in the United States Slates either fail lail to attend allend high ligh school or drop out before the they have finished If this trend continues says Abraham form lorm e c r Secretary of or Health Education Education tion lion and Welfare the number of or unschooled unskilled and unemployed youths will have soared oared to by 1970 1910 OF THESE some will vill not even have finished grammar school The They will represent roughly 30 per cent of all the young workers who whore the labor labor laor la- la are arc re expected to lo enter bor or market between 1960 and 1970 Unschooled these teen teen-agers wIll vill become part of an adult world in which education is a must Unskilled they will struggle to lo find employment in i a labor market in which jobs often orten disappear at al the click lick of a switch IN NEW YORK YOnI Cit City alone automatic elevators have already al- al ready eady displaced an estimated operators operator In one large automobile plant a manufacturing manufacturing turing operation that used to require 39 workers and 39 machines machines ma- ma chines hines is now handled b by only nine workers and nine ma- ma chines In Detroit factory jobs formerly formerly for- for merly filled by 16 and year 17 olds Ids have been decreasing at athe atthe atthe the he rate rale of oC 2000 a year ear since 1950 Between 1955 and 1960 56 6 out of oC every such jobs ceased eased to lo exist The mass production pro pro- industries no longer absorb the thc large number of oC workers workers work- work unskilled or semiskilled skilled ers rs the they once did NOR IS TilE THE blue collar workman the only only one whose loll job ob is threatened Some types of oC f white collar positions are arc disappearing too largely because because be- be cause of office automation Altogether office orrice jobs vanished between 1953 and nd 1960 Of the jobs available toda today oday according to lo a reliable source only a sm small ll number four out of ever every do not require an education THE TilE PROBLEM the unemployed unemployed dropout faces laces then becomes becomes becomes be be- comes painfully clear He lie is caught in a squeeze pIa play Unable Unable Un Un- able to qualify for tor the skilled jobs that are arc open the supply of unskilled jobs he might be bc beable beable able to lo fill is drying up There Is another irony Because Because Because Be cause of automation and technical devices says one authority professional professional professional and technical jobs arc are going to grow by or about 40 per cent during this decade Jobs in the clerical clerical cleri den cal and sales fields will grow grow by about Skilled occupations occupations oc oc- oc- oc arc are expected to provide provide pro pro- provide vide additional jobs by 1970 IMPLICIT is the fact that these new jobs would more than absorb the youngsters who because they will lack skills and schooling will know want in the midst of plenty Educational I t s for any kind of a job are arc higher high er today than ever er before According According According Ac Ac- cording to lo most personnel directors directors directors di di- rectors they the will rise a notch or two Iwo each year from here hereon on oulI outI outI out I VENTURE to predict says one that thai within the next ten en years post high school education ed ed- for two Iwo years at al a junior unior college or technical in institute institute in- in will replace the high school diploma as a basic re re- Today a n high school diploma diploma di di- ploma is the least most employers employers em em- will accept for even evena a low-level low job One Midwestern Midwest Midwest- ern firm has an ironclad rule that even its mail sorters and messenger boys be high school graduates MANY l FIRMS lS are arc not satisfied satisfied satis satis- fied fled with just a diploma eith er cr They carefully check the graduates graduate's school record and insist on than better grades before beCore hiring Few companies will pay an any attention to lo a dropout For them he is an untouchable The personnel director of or a n large steel plant in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Pennsyl Pennsyl- vania says WE WANT youngsters who arc are capable of or climbing from the factory floor into inlo an office seat seal or into inlo our sales force lorce I And we dont don't want them to lo stop slop there Somewhere among them we like Jike to lo believe is a future company dent He pauses and his Jus lips tighten lighten If company's our our- executives ex ex- are arc to lo come from Cram among today's loday's r s why should we J hire re those whose school records show they were interested only in getting gelling by Next week Other obstacles that hinder the unemployed youth in his search for a job |