Under Obama Youth Unemployment Reaches New Record

September 7, 2009 (LPAC)—The rate of unemployment for young workers, aged 16 to 19, soared to 25.5 percent in August, the highest recorded level since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began keeping track of such data in 1948. At the onset of the Barack Obama Presidency in January 2009, the unemployment rate for this 16-19 age group was 20.8%; it has grown nearly 5 percentage points.

This represents the massaged official unemployment rate; when the number of those aged 16 to 19 who are working part-time for economic reasons, or who have left the labor force are factored in, the rate is likely 40%. Likewise, the unemployment rate for workers in the 20-to-24 age range surged to 15.1 percent under Obama, but in reality, it is much higher.

This constitutes Obama's "All Youth Left Behind" program. During the Presidential race, he cynically pitched his campaign to the youth in the 16-to-24 age range. Compare what Obama has done, that is absolutely nothing, to President Franklin Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, which provided work, skills, social orientation, and hope, to millions of youth.