Ross, Showalter: Education and Employment promise can help future generations survive

A senior fellow for the Metropolitan Policy Program and the executive director of the National Youth Employment Coalition believe education and employment are needed for the future to survive.

Martha Ross and Thomas Showalter wrote that COVID-19 has thrown a wrench in plans for young people by disrupting the education system, as well as having people looking for jobs during an economic downturn — the third in the past 20 years.

Ross and Showalter wrote that there needs to be a very different transition to adulthood. They noted that from spring 2019 to spring 2020, the unemployment of young adults jumped from 8.4% to 24.4% and that pre-pandemic, the youth labor market was suffering. They wrote that as many as one in three young adults are not in school and not employed.

"Meanwhile, our K-12 and postsecondary education systems are deeply stratified by race and class," they wrote. "While high school graduation rates have risen overall, they are lower for Black, Latino or Hispanic, and low-income students."

Ross and Showalter wrote that the education system disproportionately affects young people of color and contributes to systemic issues like over-policing and mass incarceration.

They wrote that only 60% of students who enroll in two or four-year programs earn a degree within six years, but that it doesn't have to be like that. They hope that with President-elect Joe Biden, a new era of opportunity will evolve.

They proposed the Education and Employment Promise for the 2020s, with strong bridges between school and work with smooth transitions; affordable postsecondary education and training; paid work experiences; and evidence-based supports and protections to keep young people on track.

"In implementing these components, we must center racial and gender equity while committing to strong youth-adult partnerships," Ross and Showalter wrote. "Our proposal is based on programs that are already successful today and resembles similar mobilizations in the past. There is bipartisan interest in these challenges, and components of the promise could be launched through a variety of legislative vehicles, such as a major infrastructure bill."