Photo courtesy Stockvault

The economic news yesterday was certainly not uplifting: the national unemployment rate, now hovering at just above 10 percent, isn’t getting much better any time soon.

Dig a little deeper, and the data gets more depressing for high school and college students: the unemployment rates for 16- to 24-year-olds continues to be higher than any other age range. Nearly 20 percent are looking for work.

Splice that figure, and there’s very bad news for young black males. Their unemployment rate is 30.5 percent, on par with unemployment during the Great Depression. Unemployment for young blacks was significantly higher than their white peers overall, even when the family’s income level was high, according to an analysis by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

Not only that, many employers are cutting out apprenticeship and internship programs that helped young people get the skills and some experience before looking for jobs, the Washington Post reported.  Another problem, the Post reports, is that when young people get desperate or have too much time on their hands, they may turn to drug dealing or other illegal acts.
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