MAJOR CAUSE OF JOBLESSNESS LIES WITHIN U.S. SCHOOLS
While critics focus on outsourcing, little is done to prevent dropouts.
In recent months, fears over the loss of U.S. jobs to lower-paid overseas workers have struck Americans worried they could be hit next. Job "outsourcing" has become a major issue in the presidential campaign, Congress has moved to fight the trend, and 30 states are weighing measures to bar outsourcing by government contractors.
While job outsourcing fires up all-American outrage, it masks a more prevalent problem: joblessness among young people that's caused by high dropout rates. Each year, about 4 million 18-year-olds should graduate from high school. Of those, 1.2 million drop out without a degree. Estimates of the jobs lost each year to outsourcing vary, with many economists putting the figure in the hundreds of thousands. That's far less than the millions of young who are unemployed because they didn't finish high school.
And unemployment among dropouts is growing. In 2003, 2.4 million young people ages 16-24 who didn't finish high school were jobless, up 9% from 2001.
Yet dropout-driven unemployment doesn't get the high-level attention of outsourcing because states hide the problem behind exaggerated graduation rates. North Carolina reports 92% of its high school students graduate. Independent studies estimate the actual rate at about 63%, according to a recent report by the Education Trust, a non-profit group. California says 87% graduate, when a more accurate estimate is 67%.
Underestimating dropout rates lets educators ignore effective ways to help more students earn degrees. As a result, job opportunities for dropouts remain bleak even as the economy improves. Compared to high school graduates, they are 15% less likely to be employed and will earn 30% less over a lifetime, the Education Trust report says.
By law, states are required to report graduation rates to the federal government. But the report highlights loopholes schools exploit. In several states, students who drop out after claiming they are moving or pursuing a degree elsewhere go uncounted. Similarly, some students who stop attending school but can't be located aren't considered dropouts. Nor are some imprisoned youths.
Because schools don't face up to the dropout problem, they are under scant pressure to embrace programs proven to help students complete high school. Among the most promising are Career Academies, which combine learning and job training. The academies are sponsored by high schools, which line up corporate backers to work with students to develop a career. About 2,500 operate nationwide.
Consider Corey Goodwin of Baltimore. In 1991, he says, he was a high school freshman headed for a life on the streets until an academy program in finance rescued him. He worked with a mentor from an insurance company that gave him a summer job. He finished high school, earned a college degree and now works for a cable company.
A study released this month by MDRC, a research group, shows academy graduates earn $ 212 a month more than comparable students who didn't enter the program.
Career Academies are just one untapped solution to the dropout problem. Other remedies include programs to boost the skills of poor elementary school readers, who are likely dropout candidates.
Until schools get honest about their dropout problem, however, the nation faces a growing pool of workers unqualified for jobs that stay in the USA.
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