White House announces summer jobs initiative.

On January 5, the White House announced a new initiative aimed at creating employment opportunities for low-income and disconnected youth in the summer of 2012. As part of the “Summer Jobs+” program, federal agencies and private sector employers are being asked to commit to provide up to 250,000 paid and unpaid work experiences for young people, including internships, on-the-job training, and mentorship opportunities. Nearly forty private sector employers and federal agencies have already made commitments to create approximately 180,000 summer jobs, including more than 70,000 paid employment or internship opportunities.

The announcement is intended to build on earlier Administration efforts focusing on summer youth employment, including funding under the Recovery Act that allowed communities to create more than 367,000 jobs in the summers of 2009 and 2010.

The White House Council for Community Solutions released a report in conjunction with yesterday’s announcement estimating that the economic burden on taxpayers—including both direct costs and lost tax revenue—for supporting disconnected youth was more than $93 billion in 2011. The WHCCS and the Corporation for National and Community Solutions have released a toolkit of resources for communities and employers to assist them in creating employment opportunities for young people. In addition, the Administration also intends to launch a new “Summer Jobs+ Bank,” which will be an online search tool for youth to access job postings from participating employers.

National Skills Coalition strongly supports efforts to reconnect low-income and disadvantaged youth to education and employment, and we look forward to working with policymakers, employers, and other stakeholders to expand access to training and other services for these populations, as well as other individuals impacted by the economic downturn.