past event
Employment and Jobs

Building Opportunities for Young Adults: A Discussion on Strategies to Support the Newest Generation of Workers

Audio (MP3)

To download, click here.

About the Event

Young adults and teens face significant challenges in finding quality employment in today’s economy. The employment rate of teens is at its lowest point since World War II, and young adults have seen their employment rate drop by over 10 percentage points since 2000. For young workers, a lack of work experience can be a huge barrier to entering the labor market or finding a quality job.

More businesses have shifted away from hiring entry-level workers and investing in their training and development, and instead prioritize job candidates with experience. For those who have found employment, low wages, part-time hours, and limited advancement opportunities are not uncommon.

Join The Aspen Institute in this conversation to discuss the challenges young workers face in today’s economy and ideas for expanding meaningful volunteer, on-the-job learning, and entrepreneurship opportunities to help our newest generation of workers gain the experiences and skills they need to be successful in the labor market.

 

Featured speakers

John Bridgeland
President and CEO, Civic Enterprises

LaShauntaye Moore
Earth Conservation Corps

Henry Rock
Executive director and founder, City Startup Labs

Elizabeth Shuler
Secretary-treasurer/chief financial officer, AFL-CIO

 

Moderator

Nona Willis Aronowitz
National reporter, NBC News Digital

 

This event is part of the Working in America series, an ongoing discussion series hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program that highlights an array of critical issues affecting low- and moderate-income workers in the United States and ideas for improving and expanding economic opportunities for working people. For more information, visit as.pn/workinginamerica.

 

WiAMore

 

Join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #talkgoodjobs.

Event information
Date
Mon May 12, 2014
12:00pm - 1:30pm EDT
Location
Aspen Institute
One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 700, Large Conference Room
Washington, DC, United States