It’s sobering to read, in a recent New York Times article, that “since 2000, the share of 16- to 19-year-olds who are working has plummeted by 40 percent, with fewer than a third of American teenagers in a job last summer. Their share of the overall work force has never been this low, and about 1.1 million of them would like a job but can’t find one, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” Worst of all, “those who need a job the most are often the least likely to get one. To a large extent, the higher a household’s income, the more likely a teenager is to get a job.”
Having a job as a teenager is not just about having a paycheck. One job leads to another, as resume skills, experience and references are accumulated. “Research shows that for every year teenagers work while in high school, income rises an average of 15 percent when they are in their 20s,” according to the New York Times.
This was certainly the case for my older son, now 23. He started to work as a counselor at the Rudolf Steiner School summer camp when he was 16, and on the basis of his successful work experience there, he went on to a steady succession of summer jobs, including research assistantships and paid internships as a college and graduate student. His first job, as a teenager, gave him lessons in teamwork and responsibility that are still valuable to him today.
I am so delighted to see my younger son, age 16, gainfully employed this summer in the Greenagers program, based in Great Barrington but serving Berkshire County in Massachusetts and Columbia County in New York state. Through grants, private donations and partnerships with towns and larger organizations like the Trustees of Reservations, the Appalachian Mountain Club, Berkshire Natural Resources Council and the Columbia Land Conservancy, about 40 local teenagers work each summer maintaining our area’s scenic hiking trails, as well as building raised-bed vegetable gardens for individuals and businesses.
This is often hot, dirty, sweaty work. But it’s work that has a clear outcome and value: my son and I hike the local trails often, and he knows exactly how important it is to create raised paths to keep hikers out of the springtime mud, or to clear away the invasive plants that crowd out the delicate native wildflowers.
In a time when too many teenagers seem to spend an inordinate amount of time exercising only their fingers — playing video games — it’s good to see a funded jobs program for teens that demands physical fitness, and leaves the participants with a healthy tiredness at the end of the day. What could be better than spending eight hours a day outside in our brief, precious New England summer — and getting paid for it, too!
The money is important because in our society, it is an expression of value. Don’t get me wrong, I think volunteering and community service are wonderful, valuable and necessary. But a program like Greenagers, enabling teens to make meaningful contributions to our community while also getting a feeling for just how much work it takes to earn $9 (the program’s current hourly wage), gilds the lily of community service.
Sometimes, I like to fantasize about how I would change the world if I could. If I had the power, I would make sure that every teen who was able and willing to work had an opportunity to offer his or her talents and gifts to society in work that was valued and yes, paid. Trail work is not for everyone; but there are so many different jobs that need doing in our community, from taking care of the elderly to babysitting the young, from painting a fence to shoveling snow to tending a farm animal.
Imagine a program that supported low-income teenagers, in particular, giving them job skills and experience as well as mentoring and support. According to The Boston Globe, only “14 percent of low-income students in Massachusetts earn any type of degree within six years after graduating from high school.”
Over time, this lack of education translates into opportunities missed and, ultimately, a drain on society that President Obama has discussed in connection with his My Brother’s Keeper initiative, aimed at supporting young men of color. It costs a lot more to incarcerate a man than to educate him and train him for work.
As the President says, “in order for the United States to successfully compete in a 21st-century global economy, all of America’s youth must have the opportunity to be safe, healthy, educated, and prepared to succeed in their careers.”
I thank Greenagers for the inspiring work they are doing in our community and hope this solid little program will continue to grow. It’s great to see my son learn what it feels like to complete a good day’s work, well done. Imagine what our country might look like if every teenager spent their summers doing good works for our society and getting paid for it.
Let’s dare to imagine…and make it so.
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The weekly EDGE WISE column is curated by Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D., associate professor of comparative literature, gender studies and media studies at Bard College at Simon’s Rock and the Founding Director of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers. Women writers interested in publishing in EDGE WISE can find writers’ guidelines on the Festival website, or may submit queries or columns to Jennifer@berkshirewomenwriters.org
