Congressman Ruben Supports President Obama's New Summer Jobs for Youth Program

Press Release

Congressman Rubén Hinojosa joined President Obama and fellow Democrats today to unveil the President's summer-jobs initiative that will create thousands of summer jobs for our youth.

According to the White House, the initiative is ready to create 180,000 work opportunities in the private sector in 2012. Some jobs will include mentoring and unpaid internships, while more than 70,000 will be paid jobs. The President created this initiative after a Republican majority in Congress failed to approve a $1.5 billion summer-jobs fund.

"I am so proud of our President for taking this very important step in helping to strengthen our economy by getting teens and young adults, ages 16-24, into the workforce," said U.S. Rep. Hinojosa. "While Democrats tried to pass the American Jobs Act in Congress, we were once again voted down by Republicans who have made no good measures to create jobs in America. We must be the ones to turn this negativity around because these teens and young adults are the people who will shape the future of our nation."

The White House administration has plans to create a jobs bank within 60 days to help facilitate more hiring of youth for summer jobs.

New statistics show that the unemployment rate for the 16-24 age range is at 16% which is much higher than the 10.7% in 2007 before the recession began. And the rate is worse when it comes to race and ethnicity for minorities. Statistics presented by the National Council of La Raza show unemployment rates for 16-19 year age range have a great disparity. White teens have a 22.0% unemployment rate to 44% for Latinos and 33.8% for Blacks.

"I along with my fellow Democrats in Congress have been working diligently to help create jobs and boost the economy in our Congressional Districts," said U.S. Rep. Hinojosa. "This past September, I along with Workforce Solutions and Cameron Works created the Economic Resource and Career Fair. This was a very successful jobs fair which attracted 101 employers who had 3,000 job openings. There were over 4,000 job seekers and the data we are receiving from Workforce Solutions shows that hundreds of jobs have already been filled and more are expected to be filled."

In November of 2011, Congressman Hinojosa, along with other Democrats of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, was an original cosponsor to legislation called The Pathways Back to Work Act (H.R. 3425). This legislation was introduced to help out-of-work Americans get a job and gain the skills needed to be successful in the global economy.

The Pathways Back to Work Act (H.R. 3425) addresses this deepening long-term unemployment crisis by supporting job creation for working families, providing opportunities for young Americans in summer and year-round employment, and creating a competitive grant for work-related training programs.

Specifically, the Pathways Back to Work Act:

* Supports Job Creation for Struggling Working Families. The bill provides an immediate economic boost and relief to families who have been struggling with unemployment through a $2 billion fund to create jobs for unemployed adults.

* Provides Summer and Year Round Job Opportunities for Youth: The bill includes $1.5 billion in funding for programs to provide summer and year-round employment opportunities for youth.

* Creates Competitive Grant for Work-Related Training for Unemployed Adults and Youth: The bill invests $1.5 billion in work-based training or education programs for unemployed, low-income adults and youth.

"One of the best ways to help our teens and young adults find jobs is to create awareness and offer advice and assistance and the way to do that is through various community efforts," said U.S. Rep. Hinojosa. "It means, going to community colleges and local community clubs and programs, such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, directed at our youth. Programs offered by Community Base Organizations (non-profit CBO's) are key to raising awareness and offering effective job strategies."

At least 500,000 Hispanic youth will turn 18 years of age every year adding millions of new workers to the population. It is estimated that by 2050, 30% of America's workforce will be Latino.

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