Half Of Philadelphia Area 20-Somethings Are Unemployed

September 27, 2011 10:10 AM

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Reporting Michelle Durham

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It is a sad statistic and a sign of the times: half of the Philadelphia area 20-somethings are unemployed.

Kristen Kane, Director of Social Media and Recruiting for Kane Partners, a Lansdale staffing agency, explains why 20-somethings are having so much trouble.

“There are so many ‘millenials’ that when they graduate they have this sense of entitlement. (They say) ‘I’m going to get a job at a high paying amount.’ I think they are selling themselves short,” Kane said. “It’s actually a three-step process: One is submitting your resume; two is landing the interview; and it’s not until the third step, the job offer, that you actually have a choice to say yes or no.”

Kane explains the other challenge today’s job market poses.

“Fifty percent of today’s job market is called ‘hidden.’ The jobs are available, they are just not being advertised.”

They are not advertised because companies are looking to their employees to refer people they know. Because of that, Kane said networking has never been more crucial.

“It’s not just, ‘Hi, my name is.’” It’s actually getting out there and meeting new people in the areas that you’re looking to find a job,” Kane said.

Kane said to make sure your Facebook page has a mature, professional look and to watch what you post on other people’s pages.

“(The people getting jobs) are being proactive. They’re showing up to an interview prepared. They know how to overcome an objection and they’re saying, ‘This is why I want the job and why you should hire me,’” Kane explained.

Reported by Michelle Durham, KYW Newsradio 1060

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Half Of Philadelphia Area 20 Somethings Are Unemployed

dj

We need to change the OLD mindset in this city. The old democratic machine ain’t working no more. Try something else? We need to draw in busness not drive it away with taxes. cORRUPTION,UNIONS, AND SOCIALISM GO HAND IN HAND. We don’t need an underground market.
Angel

I am looking for a job pretty much anywhere these days. I am 25 and I feel that the job market wants you to be “a perfect fit” these days. I can’t even get a job as a cashier without being asked my credit score. What do they think having a low credit score means you are more obligated to steal at a job. I hate this job market!!!
Jess

I would like to know where they got this information from. I find it extremely difficult to believe that 50% of Philadelphians between the ages of 20 and 29 don’t have jobs. I am completely aware that the job market is completely shot, and that the unemployment rate is high, but this statistic is completely off base, and not cited.
Bennet Cecil

If I were a young person trying to get ahead today I would look for a job where I could become an assistant manager. My goal would be to learn how to run a small business. I would then look for a job as a manager. Next, I would find an investor to open a new small business using his capital plus a SBA loan. I would be a part owner and manager. Finally, I could open my own shop, support my family and leave it to the kids when I die. This plan does not require a college degree and consists of on the job training, ambition and hard work.
Rachel

The reason 50% of 20-somethings can’t find a job is not because they feel entitled. It is because our school system is broken, and only 50% of Philadelphians graduate from high school. In addition to that, only 10% graduate high school, go to college, and graduate from college. It’s also because many firms aren’t hiring and older individuals are not retiring. Kristen Kane is speaking from a very privileged position, and she should look at reality before making statements that stereotype “millenials.”
Wasp

Philly is a typical urban cesspool that shows us all what’s at the end of the Progressive road. This is what liberalism ALWAYS Progresses towards – poverty, unemployment, squalor and class resentment…never prosperity, never. Philly’s well on its way to becoming Detroit, as is EVERY city that follows the Progressive path.

Derek

That’s a steaming pile of horse dung and you should probably get better informed. The conservative, isolationist, “fix yourself, I’ve got me to worry about” attitude is what fuels this cycle. We improve society by doing everything we can to help the disadvantaged help themselves, not by letting the privileged take the whole cake and kicking the disadvantaged back to the gutter to scrabble for the crumbs. To be anti-progressive is to be greedy, shortsighted and contemptuous of your fellow man. Shameful.

Matt W

Derek, he is informed. He may be a bit cynical in the way he states his point, but “Wasp” is simply stating facts about history. If YOU were more informed, you’d realize that there isn’t any true argument against what he said.

The “conservative, isolationist, ‘fix yourself, I’ve got me to worry about” attitude is the attitude that made this nation a wonderful place to begin with; if YOU work hard enough, and smart enough, you WILL improve your life – that is the American dream! The “cycle” that you are referring to is a mirage; the real cycle is that people work hard, and they succeed. Then their children have a better platform to begin their journey. That is the hardworking successful person’s prerogative. You call it “letting the privileged take the whole cake,” but that’s not what it is. It is one generation preparing a life for the next. If you would like to move up in society, then work very hard; and when your work pays off, let your children benefit from it (do you think that if you were to become successful through YOUR hard work that somebody ELSE and their kids should get the benefit and not your own??). Teach them to also work hard, and that every decision they make has a very real consequence. If they squander the foundation that you created, then too bad for them. Their children will not have as many resources. But if your children take advantage of it, then your grandchildren will have a very good life. It doesn’t matter where you start from. My family came from nothing, and so has almost every single successful family throughout our nation’s history. After all, we were all poor immigrants at some point. I am not talking about the richest of the rich, like Paris Hilton and others – they are very rare exceptions.

We do NOT improve society by helping those that have historically not helped themselves, by giving them more and more. We help them by creating a scenario where it benefits them to work hard, and to help themselves. The kind of thing you are talking about is like giving a fat kid more candy, and hoping they will have the energy from the sugar to go and run, in order to lose weight. This generation (MY GENERATION) is full of people who say the kinds of things you are saying. Our parents were more progressive than our grandparents.

To be anti-progressive is to be willing to work for what you get, is obviously NOT short sited (because it benefits generations to come and not just your own), and benefits your fellow man (because it encourages him to earn what he gets, and therefore results in people getting more of what they DESERVE). To be progressive is to be greedy, shortsighted, and contemptuousness of your fellow man. Shameful, and to be frank I believe it is nauseating to think that people really think that you shouldn’t have to earn everything you get.

For your information, I had 3 jobs at all times in high school. I paid for myself to go to college (through jobs, saved money, and loans). I have now graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree, and I am seeking full-time employment. In the mean time, I am doing PhD level research at my university, so that I can pay the bills whilst looking for a better job. I will take what I get, and work very hard, and continue to keep my options open. My children will benefit from it. And, to be honest, I really hope you never see a dime of my money. If I was to be realistic though, I’m sure you will get a good chunk…

Have a nice day!

Indiana Paul

There are very few job openings throughout the USA period. We have been in a recession that started in 2009 and will continue in the forseeable future. And Philly is a hole to begin with. Obama made the econmy much worse, employers are not willing to hire anyone full-time with benefits.

Mike

I agree with you 100%. Democratic stronghold Philly is a toxic mix of poorly educated second, third, and fourth generation helpless, welfare-dependent, robbed of their dignity sponges and thugs, a lot of public employee union members feeding greedily at the public trough (and loyally voting democratic), and a whole lot of elitist white liberals who benefit from the misery of their fellow democrats who will never escape the chains of poverty.

TroyG

As another thought, I wonder how many illegal aliens are taking the jobs these unemployed folks are qualified for? Yet I see R.I. wants to give illegals the education that Americans deserve.
When will these bleeding hearts realize that allowing illegals here hurts real Americans. I have sympathy too, but America for Americans, and Americans ALWAYS come first.

Sam

I am among the first to want to send illegal aliens back to wherever they came from but illegal alliens do not take away jobs, they merely lower the wage rate. There is a big difference.

TroyG

Really Sam,
So I have 100 jobs in Phila, and I’ve hired 60 illegals.
So I have 40 jobs in Phila….
Your logic is faulty…illegals do take jobs, you think they are sitting on their duffs awaiting their check from Mexico?

Ken

Drake has it 100 percent correct.
Matthew J. Weaver

Another Obama success story: 50% unemployment among 20-somthing Phiadelphia residents. Nice job Barack.
Phil

All the jobs that used to be filled by the high school drop outs and zero motivated losers in the US are now being filled by the high school drop outs and zero motivated losers in China. Wake up and prepare for life.
Jerzey Boy

It’s all Vick’s fault!
SV

Current welfare and unemployment programs do not encourage these young people to get out and hit the pavement and look for a job, here, out of state, anywhere. Even in the article it says these people are not being proactive enough to get a job….they want this high paying job to drop in their lap. People, its still America….make it happen for yourself!!!!
Chromefields

e. — you sound like just the sort of employee one would want to get rid of. I have 2 small companies, 85 employees between them, $11M total gross sales. We’re handing out $420,000 in bonuses/profit-sharing next month, and 3-4% raises. But my people actually work for a living, rather than whine. You should try it.

TroyG

Chromefields, I’m happy to hear your story of success.
I suspect your employees love to work for you, and that you have all the good candidates you need knocking at your door.
Continued success, and be proud of your initiative and work ethics.
Michael H

Where can I send my resume to your company. I have worked 2 jobs for 10 years, now I cant find 1 as of yet. But I am not giving up.
RAYMOND KNIGHT

Any chance you are looking for a programmer, I have been out of work since February and I am looking for a full-time position.

LarryG

Half-wits half employed. What could they do, anyway? No education, no drive, no ambition. The jobs they are qualified for are already filled. Where’s the mystery.
John Palmisano

I believe that should read: 50% of 20 somethings are legally emplyed!
Working Smarter

Sad statistic… sign of the times…. How is it I’m a 53 year old male with a 9th grade education who can command over $100K at companies like eBay and Oracle? I have recruiters calling me every week. I’m now co-founder in a nutritional business. It’s because when I was 17, I joined the military and picked up some marketable skills in computer science and analytics. I’ve polished those skills to the point where I now complete with 23 year old PhDs’ from China and India and routinely beat them in job interviews and on-the-job performance. I came from an alcoholic family, raised by a single mom. I grew up in the ‘projects’ and saw every day how the 50% you describe in this article aspire to little more than receiving their next welfare check and for entertainment, ganging up on good kids.

TroyG

Amen Brother!
I did finish H.S. then did about 9 years in the U.S. Navy on Nuclear Subs in the electronics field…….Similar story to yours, no College, but > 100k per year, with many job opportunities.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and you can blame the parents of most of the young folks because they value nothing, except as you stated, their next Welfare check.
Kyle Reed

I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that the education has done a very poor job of training and teaching how to work hard. Instead it just equates success with numbers and grades. You do A+B then C will happen.

Life doesn’t work like that. Hard work, good people skills, and some more hard work is how you get jobs and make a living.

lj

@Kyle,

I’d put more blame on the parents than the education system. The education system can not disciple a student so it the parents responsibility to do that, as it should be, and that’s not happening.

Phil

As a professional recruiter, I just wanted to express my admiration for your hard work and well deserved success… you are a true role model for the younger generation.

simonsays

phila sucks for jobs which is why i moved back to LA

kbernatovich

To LA? Yeah, great with an unemployment rate over 12%. California is as bad as Philly. But I’l bet the problems these 20-somethings permeates all of the US.

Spotswood

Poor job market compliments of Obama. I would bet that I very high percentage of the half that can’t get jobs are responsible for it themselves. They didn’t work very hard in high school (if they finished), have a juvenile criminal record, do drugs, got pregnant and on top of it all have terrible parent(s) who never made them understand the consequences of their actions. Many of their parents are probably on the government dole and feel that since the government can hand them money to make them “get by” that their kids can expect the same hand outs. They will continue the generational poverty that the Democrats “unwittingly” create by accelerating the nanny state. Welfare and the rest of the hand outs pay them more than a real job that they can qualify for and the idea of working hard to get ahead and move up in a company is as foreign to them as simple good manners and good english which would also help.
DSlow

Very few do.
HH Fan

Most jobs don’t require a college eduction. Too bad these kids and their parents found that out too late.

Jayrizzy

Most low paying jobs that barely keep you above the poverty line (if at all) don’t require a college education.. A degree doesn’t guarantee you a high paying job but you are very very unlikely to ever get one without some sort of degree.

TroyG

Read TroyG and Working Smarter…we might disagree with your premise.
I believe that being industrious, working harder than my colleagues, and native intellect have allowed me to be successful in America. I’m 62 years old now, and I’ve earned more than 80% of the college grads in my age group.
Being smart enough to duck college, and get the skills to serve you for your entire life, is possible for those who think. The military has risks, but it also has rewards.
e.

Yep, and once you get your “high paying job” ($42-$53 a year to start, before taxes) with hundred of thousands of over-educated job seekers, you can pay $1000 a month towards your student loan payments. By the time the government gets their cut and I pay my loans, I realize what a fool I was for not learning a skill besides pushing paper. I could cut hair and net the same amount of money I’m making now without the commute, work hour commitments or the indentured servitude to non-dischargeable debt for the next 30 years.

Sure, I can hope to work my way to the top and get my 3% raise, which doesn’t match inflation or gas price increases. Companies aren’t giving bonuses or raises in this economy. They know we’re just lucky to be employed.