Report

Hire LA: Summer Youth Employment Program Evaluation Report Executive Summary: 2014

Youth employment rates have declined dramatically nationwide, in California and Los Angeles County, in recent years. This is not a local phenomenon, but a national problem. In Los Angeles County the percent of 16-19 year olds employed fell from 23.8% in 2009 to 16.4 percent in 2013 (American Community Survey, 2015). This decline fits with the national data, showing a similar decline in youth employment nationwide (Schwartz & Leos-Urbel, 2014). The summer of 2014 brought a renewed focus to summer youth employment and the City set a goal of expanding the program to 10,000 participants. The program was called “HIRE LA’s Youth”. For purposes of this report we will refer to it as the Summer Youth Employment Program or SYEP. The goals of the program were to provide work experience and in addition: To increase youths’ career aspirations and career awareness, To increase youths’ motivation, To improve youths’ “work readiness” skills, To encourage youth to continue their education or find employment. As part of this initiative, the City committed to evaluating the impact of the Summer Youth Employment Program. To this end, the Economic and Workforce Development Department of the City of Los Angeles contracted with our team of researchers at California State University, Northridge, to conduct an evaluation of the 2014 Summer Youth Employment Program. Our evaluation of the program involved five data collection efforts. First, a sample of youth participants were surveyed at two time points: 1) as they entered the program and 2) at exit. Second, we administered a follow-up survey seven months after the program ended. Third, we conducted a series of focus groups with participants to gain a more in-depth understanding of their experiences. Finally, we surveyed the adults who supervised youth to get their evaluation of the program.

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