During a recent workshop for job seekers at Evanston Township High School, sophomore Owen Mugabi volunteered to play a woman named Latoya in a mock interview.
“I want a housekeeping job,” Mugabi read in a jokingly gentle voice, “because it’s something I know I can do.”
The room erupted in laughter, and Mugabi grinned.
But when the 16-year-old talked about his own job search, he became serious very quickly. His mother works three jobs, and he wants to help.
“I don’t like the look in her face, because she looks like she’s always stressed with the bills,” he said. “I just want a job that can at least give her something.”
And it’s a tough time to be looking for jobs. The Evanston unemployment rate hit 6.1 percent in February, according to numbers released this week by the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
As the least experienced part of the work force, young job seekers are getting hit especially hard by the recession, said Sacella Smith, executive director of the Youth Job Center of Evanston.
Along with other local employment advocates, Smith said she is excited about the $1.2 billion that Congress included for youth job programs in the economic stimulus bill approved last month. Nearly $2.1 million of that is headed to Northern Cook County, but it may be a while before Evanston’s high school students see much improvement.
At the Youth Job Center outpost at ETHS, 17-year-old Joe Young recently stopped by for advice on his job search.
It’s been a difficult search for Young, who has been looking for work since last July. He rattled off a list of stores he’s applied to: Marshall’s, Jewel-Osco, Best Buy, Dominick’s, Target.
“No answer, no luck,” he says. “All I can do is wait and see.”
Outpost Counselor Pamela Kaul said Young’s story is far from unique.
“Businesses are suffering from restaurants to retail to construction,” she said. “Even those jobs that you could pretty much count on, which would be like camp counseloring positions for the summer, their numbers are down, too.”
The stimulus funds, given in response to this trend, are designed to make it easier for businesses to employ young people.
Participating companies will be given funding to employ young workers for four to eight weeks during the summer, said Jennifer Stasch, executive director of the Workforce Board of Northern Cook County. The work programs offer real job experiences, but the government – not the company – will pay the youth participants.
The programs are open to people aged 14 to 24. Applicants will have to qualify as “at-risk” based on income, educational status or other barriers to employment.
It’s the first time in roughly a decade that the federal government is funding stand-alone youth job programs, Stasch said.
But not everyone is excited about the stimulus.
The stimulus bill narrowly passed through Congress in February, with nearly all Republicans voting against it. For Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), who represents the state’s 6th district, the stimulus plan is an irresponsible answer to the economic crisis.
“The congressman’s perspective is that the best way to create jobs for youth, and for the rest of the nation, is not to simply spend money,” said Matt Vriesema, Roskam’s press secretary. “We need to encourage businesses to hire more employees and not simply throw money at the problem.”
The problem, Smith and Stasch agree, will not be solved by the stimulus funds alone. They estimate the summer jobs program will put 300 young people to work in Northern Cook County, an area with a total population of more than a million.
Kaul, the Youth Jobs Center outpost coordinator at ETHS, said it will take time for the program to produce results.
“It’s like a machine,” she said. “You send in the fuel, and it’s going to take a while before everything starts moving.”
