FRESNO, Calif. — The Obama administration’s economic-stimulus program to find jobs for thousands of teenagers this past summer couldn’t overcome one of the bleakest job markets in more than 60 years that had desperate adults competing for the same work.
Almost one-quarter of the 279,169 youths in the $1.2 billion jobs program didn’t get jobs, as more adults sought the same low-wage positions at hamburger stands and community pools, according to an Associated Press review of government state data and reports.
The new report from the Government Accountability Office said many government officials, employers and participants believe the program was successful.
Vice President Joe Biden described the Workforce Investment Act summer program as a way to keep teens out of trouble and off the streets while reinvigorating the country’s summer youth employment program, which had gone dormant for a decade.
But the program didn’t prevent youth jobless rates from soaring to 18.5 percent in July, the highest rate measured among 16- to 24-year-olds in that month since 1948.
