Summer Youth Employment Could Impact Local Economy Summer Youth Employment Could Impact Local Economy

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — With summer arriving, a topic that can be on some people’s minds is summer youth employment. As the weather gets warm and the days get longer it’s common for young people to try to find a way to keep themselves busy.

CNY Works, one of 33 work force boards in New York state, is committed to helping youth find employment. Currently, they place about 500 youth in summer employment across the county, which is half of their applicants.

Rosemary Avila, the executive director of CNY Works, said they are dedicated to helping people gain employment that fits the needs of the community.

“So, a lot of students would also be supporting retail, right. So, like during the summer a lot of retail and our local businesses have more of a demand because of vacation,” Avila said. “Kids are coming back home. More people spending time that live out of state back in Central New York, and so the demand obviously increases. Youth in our area have the opportunity to develop skills and knowledges around healthcare, retail, hospitality.”

As they gain experience, Avila said there’s a difference in how some behave after developing the skills from summer employment.

Avila said young people are “more receptive to learning different classes and courses. It’s really learn the value of responsibility. Skills like communication, time management, resolution of conflict.”

With these developments, professor and economist Carl Schramm said that experiences from summer employment could benefit the local economy of Onondaga County.

“Whoever’s running this program has got a broad spectrum of where people should be placed is a great idea,” Schramm said. “These folks are sticky economists use this term. They’re gonna stay in central New York they stick in central New York. They’re an increased human capital because they’ve already got skills.

As the youth develop and gain these skills they are more likely to invest it back into their community, where they developed these skills.

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