A new study out of Boston University confirms what seems intuitively true ? low-income teenagers who hold summer jobs are less likely to engage in violent behavior.
While the study polled teens in Boston, the findings should encourage employers across the Bay State to make an investment in the commonwealth?s future workers.
BU?s Center for Labor Market Studies polled 421 teenagers and young adults who found summer jobs last year through a violence prevention collaborative overseen by the State Street Foundation.
Answering confidential questionnaires, 3 percent of the teens polled said they had threatened or attacked someone with a gun during the month before they began their summer jobs. When the jobs ended, less than 1 percent said they had done so in the previous month.
Andrew Sum, director of the center, said 15 percent of the young people polled had fought with someone during the month before the start of the program, but when it ended just under 8 percent said they had been involved in a fight.
Neil Sullivan, executive director of the Boston Private Industry Council, described the Northeastern study as ?ground-breaking. . . What professor Sum?s study documents is that the work experience . . . actually changes those behaviors? that lead to violence.?
Sum, who called the study ?very significant,? said a summer jobs? experience not only reduced risky behavior ? such as drug and alcohol ? among teens, it also gave them a better chance of landing a job in the fall.
?Disadvantaged kids benefit most from job creation programs,? he said.
The data is convincing. We hope those who have the ability to hire at-risk teens will take the chance and do so. It?s a decision that will pay dividends down the road to both employers and the community at large.
Source: http://www.masslive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/07/editorial_summer_jobs_for_teen.html
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