Transition into Employment
Youth in the United States are usually able to explore various academic and extracurricular interests while in school. In college, they may not declare their major until their second year of college and can take different classes to help them decide what they would like to pursue. This allows youth some flexibility to figure out their career path.
Students who pursue vocational career paths have less flexibility and receive a more specialized training that directs them into one specific career trajectory. However, there is generally less rigidity in the education system in regard to youth having a set path compared to other countries.
Overall, youth pursue careers in teaching and education, nursing and medicine, law, film, graphic design, computer science, engineering, service and hospitality, and more. However, there have been challenges with the job-market for youth in the United States. For those who pursue some post-secondary education, their earning potential is increased and tends to be much higher than those who do not, but all too often employers feel as if these inexperienced individuals have to prove their worth. As such, many youths increasingly attain jobs for which they may be overqualified and underpaid.
Some of the most popular vocational pathways include healthcare particularly nursing and other ancillary health services, heavy industry in manufacturing, and increasingly in transportation and logistics. The popular fields are typically heavily influenced by the pay on offer and is also impacted by the ease for students to connect to onramps into the career fields. For those students who do not pursue a vocational or higher education path, some of the more popular jobs include going into retail services as a cashier or stocker, working in the food industry as a waitress or in fast food, or assorted fields such as a gas station attendant or delivery driver. Unfortunately, there does not tend to be many support for students entering these areas, which commonly results in these low-income jobs becoming careers for many adults in the United States – fueling much of the inequitable realities so many face.
The alternative for approximately 15 % of the students who do not graduate, achieving a General Equivalency Degree (GED) is also possible, but society does not look as favorably on individuals with this type of finishing degree. Acquiring a GED is different for each state – some have unique requirements regarding which subtests (areas of study) a person has to pass along with the requisite passing score. Also, the length of time required to learn for the test can range from three months to a year, but not all states require a course of study. Ultimately, it all leads to a student taking the GED exam, which can be retaken as many times as an individual desires. Increasingly, many states are also attaching Career Readiness assessments to the GED process – which helps these students transition into jobs and careers.
Youth apprenticeships are work-based learning programs designed for high school students, but all youth can participate. While some consider the certificates offered by apprenticeship programs as a type of new 4-year degree, the United States does not have an official certificate that serves as an alternative to college, though there is a lot of energy around trying to change that reality.
Apprenticeships generally incorporate the key elements of the standard apprenticeship model, including paid workplace experience and related technical instruction. These apprenticeship programs are typically for youth between the ages of sixteen to twenty-four and combine academic and technical classroom instruction with work experience through the program. It provides the foundation for youth to choose among multiple pathways – to enroll in college, begin full-time employment, or a combination. Youth apprenticeships provide opportunities for youth to experience, and gain skills in, a real work environment as well. Simultaneously, they give businesses a chance to inspire and develop a new generation of talent.
Youth can opt to join the military at the age of seventeen. Within the United States military, one can choose or be accepted into the following branches: the Army, the Marine Corps, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Coast Guard. In order to become a member of the military, a young person must take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) exam. The results that one receives on this exam, as well as one’s physical fitness, education level, and eyesight will help determine the type of job and branch where a person will be placed. If a person has been on active duty in the military for at least two years, they are eligible for financial support for tuition and other educational expenses through the Montgomery GI Bill. As such, the military can often be a potential professional pathway for youth in poverty who would like to find a way to finance their education, travel, and make their way up the socioeconomic ladder.
More than half of High-School graduates go on to attend University or College. Currently, many young people must take out student loans in order to attend college because the costs are so high which is not something that many of their parent’s generation had to do. Student loan borrowers in the United States owe a collective USD 1.75 trillion in federal and private student loan debt as of April 2022. Forty-three million Americans have student loan debt — which is one in eight Americans (13 %). Those ages twenty-five to thirty-four are the most likely to hold student loan debt, but the greatest amount is owed by those thirty-five to forty-nine — which is more than USD 600 billion. Among all borrowers, women typically borrow more for college compared with men (and attain more degrees). And Black students borrow more often and greater amounts compared with all other races and ethnicities, according to federal data.
