Superlatives & Paradoxes

Marking something of an economic milestone, the Labor Department last week reported that in June the U.S. work force topped the May level by 2.7 million, reached 80 million for the first time in history. And with an increase of 1.3 million jobs, there were more Americans than ever before--77.3 million--picking up paychecks.

There was, however, a disturbing paradox behind those rosy superlatives. If the nation's employment increased, its unemployment jumped even more dramatically. Though June school closings traditionally loose hordes of eager job-hunting students on the labor market, this June's joblessness rose a full 200,000 more than anyone had expected. It rose to 3.6 million as compared with 2.3 million in May. As a result, the nation's overall unemployment rate climbed from a 15-year low of 3.5% in May to 3.8%.

That did not affect men over 20, whose unemployment rate remained steady at a slim 2.3%. Bearing the brunt are the 13.5 million out-of-school youths aged 16-to-21 who are looking for a summer job. The Labor Department figures that only 11.5 million of them will find jobs of any sort. One reason is that, despite big draft calls and a booming economy, such perennial employers of student power as construction and retail trades are soft. Even political campaigns, which absorb many young volunteers, are not taking up the slack.

Teen-age unemployment weighs most heavily on the ghettos. The jobless rate for all nonwhite workers rose from 6.4% to 7.2% last month, largely reflecting the rise in Negro teen-age joblessness, which, at 30%, is double the rate for white youths.

Earn or Burn. Sadly, ghetto joblessness is rising at a time when summer job programs, launched with much public hoopla, are falling far short of their marks. Overall, the Administration had hoped that a concerted federal, state and private effort could turn up 1.5 million jobs for ghetto youths this summer. So far, federal agencies have found jobs for 646,000, more than last summer's 571,000 but still not enough. The National Alliance of Businessmen, a 60-company group headed by Henry Ford II, aims to find jobs for 200,000, has so far placed only 35,000.

Local programs are hobbled by a congressional cutback in federal funds. Last week, reacting violently to a severe trimming of a New York City job program that last summer employed 23,000 teenagers, some 1,500 youths descended upon Mayor John Lindsay's City Hall office in protest. In a three-hour near-riot, they smashed car windows and shouted some new slogans, including "Earn or burn" and "Sock it to my pocket." Lindsay denounced the ruckus as "disgraceful," then announced that the city would ante up some $5,000,000 that had been previously earmarked for the program.

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