Summer Jobs Can Help Kids and Make Communities Safer

Employment programs can boost high school graduation rates and reduce crime by giving young people mentoring, an income and job-readiness skills.

Learning the ropes: Participants in youth employment programs often learn expectations for timeliness and consistency in their summer jobs, resulting in an increase in school attendance. Research links summer job programs to a 4 percentage point growth in high school graduation rates. (jacoblund/Getty Images)

Lifeguard, camp counselor, waitstaff-everyone remembers their first job.

"I worked as a summer youth advisor for the city and county of Honolulu and worked at Anna Miller's Restaurant as a busboy and dishwasher," Hawaii Sen. Brandon Elefante (D) says. Oregon Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D) worked at a local burger joint when he was 15, with his parents' approval.

The legislators were among the attendees at NCSL's Crime Solutions Policy Forum, which, along with discussion of ways to improving community safety, covered the impact of summer youth employment programs, or SYEPs, on crime prevention.

Presenter Alicia Modestino, director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, designed Boston's SYEP and has studied the impact of early work experience with randomized controlled trials.

The Boston program requires participants to work 25 hours a week for a six-week period. The program also provides 20 hours of additional training using a hands-on, competency-based, work readiness curriculum. Boston's SYEP costs $28 million to employ 12,000 young people, or about $2,500 per participant. Benefits to employers include positive community engagement, filling holes in the workforce, and building a solid relationship with city government.

Outcomes

Researchers have long thought that SYEPs could improve criminal justice outcomes by keeping kids busy, thus reducing opportunities to engage in delinquent or criminal behavior. The thinking was that placing young people in situations where they receive support from mentors, earn an income and gain job-readiness skills could help to reduce crime.

In the years since implementing its program, Boston has observed improvements in a range of behavioral, academic and economic youth outcomes. Modestino examined the number of arraignments during the 17 months after young people participated in an employment program and found a 35% reduction in violent crime and a 29% reduction in property crimes. Through pre- and post-program surveys, participants said they were given opportunities to learn valuable soft skills such as asking adults for help, working with peers and resolving conflicts in the workplace. These new skills can help young people to foster greater community engagement and positive relationships within the program.

Prior research has also shown that participation in summer job programs can raise academic achievement by encouraging ambition and work ethic among young people. Participants often learn expectations for timeliness and consistency in their summer jobs, resulting in an increase in school attendance. Modestino's research also links summer job programs to a 4 percentage point growth in high school graduation rates.

Researchers followed participants who completed the summer program into their careers. The city of Boston found that improvements in job readiness skills gained through the program correlate with a 30 percentage point increase in wages during the year following participation for youth of color. Modestino says that "young people of color, in particular, experience positive outcomes after their involvement with the program."

Implementation

While the outcomes of SYEPs are positive, the road to success can be tricky. "Scaling an SYEP takes significant funding, technical assistance and civic infrastructure," Modestino says, adding that policymakers should consider three common design questions:

How do programs create a labor market with employers and job seekers?

The SYEP requires strong buy-in from employers to create more job options. In-person job fairs can create an environment for both applicants and employers to interact and discuss job openings. Applicants should be encouraged to apply for multiple job opportunities that suit their interests and skills.

How can the system effectively match applicants with the right job?

A successful SYEP needs a job assignment mechanism or algorithm. Boston uses an online application portal and its Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity to help applicants through the process. After expanding the job-matching algorithm to 30% of employer allotment, all openings were accounted for with a youth placement.

How will policymakers ensure every position is filled with a participating young person?

To avoid leaving jobs unfulfilled, SYEPs can conduct the hiring process over multiple waves. There is often a surge of applicants who apply as the school year ends. By offering a last round of placements for students applying in June, the program can fill any vacant positions.

Outside of these three big concerns, legislators asked Modestino how to deal with transportation issues, as not all young people have a driver's license or access to a vehicle. She suggested that in urban areas, a summer employment program could provide free public transit passes for participants, along with bus routes dedicated to program use. But in more rural areas, transportation can be a barrier to program success.

Key Takeaways

• Clear and compelling data shows that summer jobs can reduce violent crimes if deployed correctly.
• Participation in SYEPs can change behavior and yield long-term positive outcomes for youth and their communities.
• The Boston Summer Youth Employment Program, which has strong support from the mayoral office and private businesses, illustrates how these programs can operate at scale if they receive necessary funding, civic infrastructure and technical assistance.

Annie Miller is a policy associate in NCSL's Employment, Labor and Retirement Program.