The unemployment of young people has been an issue in the nation for a little while now. It is feared that young people are not being afforded the opportunity to be productive, responsible citizens by working. The notion of “idle hands are the Devil’s playground” also looms, as jobs are seen as a way to keep young people from the troubles that life on the street holds.
A few years ago, Chicago introduced the “One Summer Chicago” program to combat this problem. This program provides employment opportunities for young people in high-crime areas. The website boasts: “One Summer Chicago brings together government institutions, community-based organizations and companies to offer over 22,000 employment and internship opportunities to youth and young adults.” The program has been studied by the University of Chicago Crime Lab and findings suggest that it is curbing violence in crime-ridden Chicago.
It was found that children randomly selected for the program had 43% fewer violent crime arrests over 16 months compared to other groups. The Washington Post writes:
Researcher Sara Heller conducted a randomized control trial with the program, in partnership with the city. The study included 1,634 teens at 13 high schools. They were, on average, C students, almost all of them eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Twenty percent of the group had already been arrested, and 20 percent had already been victims of crime.
Some of the students were given part-time jobs through the program, working 25 hours a week at minimum wage ($8.25 in Illinois) with government or non-profit employers. They worked as camp counselors, office assistants, or in community gardens, among other places. Other students in the treatment group worked 15 hours a week at similar jobs, but also received 10 hours a week of “social-emotional learning” time, where they learned skills to manage their emotions or behavior that might get in the way of employment. All of the students in the program received mentors as well. The teenagers in the control group participated in neither part of the program.
Heller used Chicago Police Department data to follow what happened to all of the students in the 16 months after the program began. In the crime data, there was no difference between the students who got the counseling and those who did not, suggesting that the group working 25 hours a week may have acquired some of the same social-emotional skills on the job. There was a big difference, though, in the violent crime arrest data between the teenagers who got jobs and those who did not.
The complete report can be read here.
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