Printer-Friendly Version

Archived News Release--Caution: information may be out of date.

ETA Press Release: Two Young People For Every Job Summer Jobs Program Needs Private Sector Support [06/05/1996]

For more information call: 202-219-8211

With two young people eligible for every summer job the federal government creates, Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich today urged more employers to invest in the future of their own companies, their communities and youth.

Speaking at a gathering of Washington, D.C., area young people and their employers, Reich said, "There are never enough public sector summer jobs to meet the needs of disadvantaged young people. We need private companies to fill the gap between the half million jobs created by the federal government and the million disadvantaged young people who want to work."

Reich noted that funding for both the 1995 and 1996 summer jobs program is at the lowest level in 14 years, resulting in fewer jobs for disadvantaged youth and more dependence on private business.

"Creating summer jobs is a win-win situation. Young people build careers, and employers build a future workforce," Reich said. "Communities get badly needed services in libraries, hospitals and playgrounds."

To help make his point, Reich singled out private and public sector programs that make a difference in young people's lives.

At the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, James Fleming worked as a summer intern and helped plan an educational project, "Bringing the Lessons Home." The 1994 graduate of H.D. Woodson High School in Washington, D.C., credits the program in part with his decision to stay in school. Now a student at the University of the District of Columbia, he continues to work at the museum. Fleming was joined at the Washington gathering by Lynn Williams, director of the Holocaust Museum program.

Another success story came from Damien Frierson, a 16-year-old student at Eastern Senior High School in Washington, D.C. He began the Washington Hospital Center's youth mentoring program while in ninth grade at Taft Junior High School.

He spent last summer working alongside his mentor in the radiology department at the hospital. He was accompanied by his employer John L. Green, executive vice president for Corporate Services, Medlantic Health Care Group, which owns Washington Hospital Center and other health care facilities.

Alicia Jarmon participated in the federally funded summer jobs program in Prince George's County, Md., throughout her high school years. She received an athletic scholarship to Coppin State University in Baltimore and graduated in 1995.

Afterwards, she taught in the county's public school system and is planning to go to graduate school in the fall. She was joined by Joseph Puhalla, Executive Director of the Prince George's County, Md., Private Industry Council, which operates the public sector summer jobs program.

"Summer jobs for teenagers are as much a part of the American landscape as baseball, cookouts and the Fourth of July," Reich said. "But summer jobs cannot be taken for granted. For the past two years federal funding for the program teetered on the edge of the Congressional budget knife. That is why private job creation is so critical."

Funding for the past four years has been:

President Clinton requested $871 million for the 1997 program. That request is scheduled for Congressional consideration next week.

Archived News Release--Caution: information may be out of date.