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Congressman Larry Bucshon wanting to help youth unemployment rates

NBC14 on May 24, 2013
by Kenneth Douglass

14 News, WFIE, Evansville, Henderson, Owensboro

In Indiana, the unemployment rate for young adults is almost twice the state average.
It’s something people, including Congressman Larry Bucshon, are calling a youth unemployment crisis. Bucshon stopped by a youth build event on Friday in Evansville. He’s on a committee in Washington that deals with workforce issues and thinks a skills gap is partly to blame.
The congressman thinks more vocational and technical schools will help lower unemployment among youths, and today he got to hear what their experience has been.

“I want to be able to go back to Washington and tell people on the committee what the reality is out on the ground,” says Congressman Bucshon. “What are young people saying, why are young people having difficulty getting employed, what opportunities are out there for them to get the skills that they need. Is there more we should be doing or can do to help?”

Its not just the younger generation that are having a hard time finding a job, last month the unemployment rate in the state was 8.5%. That’s above the national average of 7.5%.