Using NewsHour Extra Feature Stories

Overview: NewsHour Extra features stories can help students identify and interpret key issues in current events. This activity anticipates one class period, but the follow-up essay might be assigned as homework, or in another period.

Warm Up: Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much your students know.

Main Activity: Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the questions on the reading comprehension handout.

Discussion: Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined in the story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions.

Follow-up: Students can write an 500-word editorial on the topic expressing their views and send it to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org] for possible publication.

Evaluation: Students are graded on their answers to reading comprehension questions and/or their editorial.

Story: Teen Workers Face Dismal Summer Job Outlook, 06/21/04
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june04/teenjobs_6-21.html

Initiating Questions:

1. Do you have a job? How did you find it?

2. What advice would you give to a teen looking for a summer job?

Reading Comprehension Questions: (click here for printout)

1. What is the employment participation rate and what does it tell us about the teen summer job outlook?

The April employment participation rate, those 16-to-24 year olds working or looking for work, was 59.3 percent, down from 64.2 percent in 2000, according to bureau economist Stephanie Boraas.

"It has been trending downward consistently. Fewer people in that age group are employed or looking for jobs. I can't say why because there are so many factors that could effect that. But it's been declining since 1997. There's no reason to believe that trend will change," said Boraas.

2. What are some of the reasons that there are fewer jobs for teens?

The economic slowdown is one reason for this decline. Many lower-paying jobs in the service industries such as food service and retail are going to adult employees including out-of work professionals, seniors returning to work and recent college graduates.

"Teenagers are at the end of the hiring queue," Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, told the Associated Press.

3. What is the perception about teen workers? Is this an accurate perception according to the article?

Brian Cote, a general manager at Hilltop Fun Center in Somersworth, N.H., told Foster's Sunday Citizen he's had trouble keeping teen-age employees.

"It's a good pool but a lack of work ethic. It's hard to keep teenagers staying focused," he said.

Renee Ward, founder of Teens4Hire.org, a national teen employment Web site, concurs but thinks the perceptions are not always fair or accurate.

"That's the perception, that teens are not mature enough, not prepared for the workplace, they have poor expectations. They want a paycheck but don't want to work for it. But that's not fair," Ward said. "They've got to start somewhere. I don't think the mindset exists to truly value the young worker."

4. Why do teens work?

According to a March 2004 Teens4Hire.org membership poll, 52 percent of the more than 3,000 responders said that working was not a luxury. Thirty percent of those polled said that the money was for helping family and 22 percent said wages were for college expenses.

"I take anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of each paycheck and put it aside for savings. It will pay for my college expenses," said Charlton Dobson, a New Hampshire teen who is working two part-time jobs and looking for a third for the summer.

5. What are the benefits in working as a teen?

Research has shown that teens from all income brackets have increased wages and job stability if they have early work experience.

"They do better. They earn more. They're employed more stably," said Sum. "And they make more money until they're in their mid-20s. So there's a lot of advantages to having kids work when they're young."

Discussion Activity (more research might be needed):

1. Design a guide for teens fresh in the workplace. What tips would you include to help them get jobs? Where would you advise them to look for work -- both conventional and unconventional places. Interview prospective employers about the skills necessary for good employees.

2. Survey your classmates or friends. What is their work experience? Are they employed? Have they been impacted by the slow economy?

3. What was your favorite summer job? Why do you think so? Did you make a lot of money? Was the experience worthwhile? What did you learn?

Write a 300-500 word essay on any of these topics providing clear examples. Send your completed editorial to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org]. Exceptional essays might be published on our Web site.