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Sounding the Alarm: New York’s Young Adult Unemployment Crisis & The Need for State-Based Reforms

Youth unemployment among young New Yorkers ages 16-24 is at crisis-levels. Across the state, the unemployment rate for residents 35 years and older is four percent, compared to a 15 percent statewide average unemployment rate for young adults between the ages of 16 and 24. Right now, the state’s largest investment to combat this issue is the Urban Youth Jobs Program (UYJP), which offers employers small dollar tax credits for hiring disadvantaged young adults. This tax credit currently represents a $50 million dollar annual appropriation from the state budget.

Through Young Invincibles’ in-depth original research on the program, and extensive interviews with employers and key stakeholders, the report reveals that the UYJP is failing to provide young people, especially the most disadvantaged, with valuable training. Sounding the Alarm outlines four evidence-based approaches to providing skills trainings, to which the $50 million investment currently going into the UYJP should be reallocated.

Send a letter to Governor Cuomo to tell him to #InvestInYouthSkills

Read the report here:

Want to take action to improve employment opportunities for young adults in New York? Send a letter to New York Governor Cuomo, urging him to invest in youth skills and fund training programs in his 2017 Executive Budget.

And join our online campaign with @YoungInvincible to ask our state to #InvestInYouthSkills