Report: Detroit Topped List Among U.S. Cities Offering Summer Youth Jobs in 2015

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Detroit had the highest increase in the number of private sector worksites offering summer youth employment opportunities compared to 15 other major U.S. cities, adding more than 100 partnerships in 2015, says a new report released today by JPMorgan Chase and Co.

“I believe that talent is equally distributed, but what is not equally distributed is opportunity,” says Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. “We have an enormous number of talented young people in Detroit who have not had the same kinds of opportunities as people in other communities. JPMorgan Chase’s report highlights the need to continue investing in our young people and providing them opportunities through our summer job programs like Grow Detroit’s Young Talent, which will employ 8,000 young people this summer.”

Detroit tops the list of surveyed cities, followed by Louisville, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Dallas, and San Francisco, respectively.

The report finds despite the creation of more summer roles in certain cities, less than 40 percent of teens and young adults looking for summer jobs were able to find positions through 18 summer employment programs in the 15 cities surveyed over the last two years.

“We must make it a national priority to close the gap between the demand and supply of summer jobs,” says Chauncy Lennon, head of workforce initiatives at JPMorgan Chase.

He says the summer employment rate for teens across the U.S. has fallen to 34 percent in 2015, a near record low and a 20 percentage point drop since 1995. Lennon says the report suggests that cities must continue to expand partnerships with the private sector and they should link summer jobs to technical skills building and training. The report also says cities should prioritize serving special youth populations, including at-risk youth.

The report, called Expanding Economic Opportunity for Youth through Summer Jobs, is available here.

Another report released by JPMorgan last month found more than 60 percent of Detroit workers commute outside of the city for work, and within the city of Detroit, there are only enough jobs to employ about 37 percent of the population.​