In the Media
WHYY Radio Times- “Pennsylvania, drug tests, unemployment and job creation”
May 7, 2013 – “In an interview last week about Pennsylvania's declining job growth numbers, Governor Tom Corbett said that among the challenges employers face in hiring is that too many job applicants can't pass their drug tests. Representatives of the state's business community have supported the claim while critics say that it was just an excuse for the Governor’s failed economic policies. A recent study from Arizona State University found that Pennsylvania dropped from 7th in the nation in job growth to 49th. Is drug use to blame? What else explains the lag in job creation throughout the state? And what policies and strategies would encourage new opportunities for employment. We'll turn to DAVID TAYLOR, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, and PAUL HARRINGTON, Director of Drexel University's Center for Labor Markets and Policy for some answers. (More…)
Metro – “Tie on that apron, kids: Drexel University study says teens who have jobs are more likely to succeed”
May 7, 2013 – “According to a study published by Drexel University’s Center for Labor Markets and Policy, teens who spend some time bagging groceries or syphoning fries into happy meals have a larger shot at success throughout their career.” (More…)
The Philadelphia Inquirer – “Corbett’s drug-test remark raises complex issues”
May 3, 2013 – “Was Gov. Corbett correct when he said Pennsylvania employers "can't find anybody that . . . has passed a drug test"?” (More…)
Boston Sunday Globe – “It’s tough out there”
April 28, 2013 – “After applying for entry-level jobs at 87 companies, Molly Hagerty finally got an offer for a three-month internship at a San Francisco public relations firm that will pay her just a few dollars an hour above minimum wage.” (More…)
Newsworks – “Drexel researchers look into drop in youth employment”
April 21, 2013 – “Over 10 years, there's been a very steep drop in youth employment. In the Philadelphia area, the number of young people in the workforce has fallen from 44 percent in 1999 to 25 percent in 2012.” (More…)
Pittsburgh Tribune – “Surplus of college graduates allows employers to require more of new hires”
April 20, 2013 – “Erika Wahl was thrilled to land a summer job as a file clerk with Gentile, Horoho & Availi, a Downtown law firm.” (More…)
Drexel Now – “Behavioral traits are biggest barrier to teen employment, new study reveals”
April 11, 2013 – “As the share of employed teens across the nation has plummeted over the last decade, a new study from Drexel University’s Center for Labor Markets and Policy and the Commonwealth Corporation reveals some practical solutions to the challenge of declining teen employment.” (More…)
Telegram.com – “Study urges teens to send right signals”
April 3, 2013 – “Having your mom pick up a job application for a summer job from a potential employer sends a signal.” (More…)
The Chronicle of Higher Education - “A College Degree Sorts Job Applicants, but Employers Wish It Meant More”
March 4, 2013 – “Employers value a four-year college degree, many of them more than ever. Yet half of those surveyed recently by The Chronicle and American Public Media's Marketplace said they had trouble finding recent graduates qualified to fill positions at their company or organization.” (More…)
Providence Journal – “Rate finally falls to single digits”
March 1, 2013 – “Rhode Island ended 2012 with an unemployment rate of 9.9 percent, the first time the state’s jobless rate has been in the single digits since February 2009, according to revised data released Thursday by the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training.” (More…)
SentinelandEnterprise.com – “Expert: Teens squeezed out of dwindling job market”
February 18, 2013 – “While youth employment advocates tend to lump high school and college students together, a labor economist says the two groups are now competing with each other in the marketplace.” (More…)
Telegram.com – “On-job experience benefits young workers, employers”
February 16, 2013 – “At 25, Lisa M. Tirado said she is happy in her career track as a senior teller at Leominster Credit Union and wants to further herself in the banking industry.” (More…)
Payden&Rygel – “Point of View”
January 2013 – (More…)
The Boston Globe – “Revere, Everett vying for casino bid”
January 13, 2013 – “They are two old cities with deep roots in Italy. One is known for its crescent-shaped beach on the cold Atlantic, the other for its scrappy port on the north bank of the Mystic River.” (More…)
New England Cable Network - “Job market bleaker for millennials without college”
January 5, 2013 - “Facing the future with a college degree is like being in a lifeboat on a roiling sea. Facing the future with a high school degree is like being in the water.” (More…)
The Philadelphia Inquirer – “Some changes are helping high school students prepare for work”
December 31, 2012 – “The phone rang at 3 a.m., an unnerving noise at a bad news hour.” (More…)
The Philadelphia Inquirer – “Degrees of Despair”
December 29, 2012 – “The job market is bleak even for millennials with college diplomas. For those without, it’s a different world.” (More…)
The Philadelphia Inquirer – “Young entrepreneurs create their own jobs, to mixed results”
December 22, 2012 – “Jeremy Smith's first vision - a gourmet crabcake sauce - didn't pan out, so as a more seasoned entrepreneur he's now pinning his hopes on Hunter's Recipe, which is specifically concocted to enhance wild game.” (More…)
The Associated Press – “Teen employment relatively high in Pa.”
December 3, 2012 – “Pennsylvania had among the highest percentages of teen employment last year compared with other states, even as the jobless rate for young American workers overall hit its highest level since World War II, according to a study released Monday.” (More…)
Newsworks – “Pa. unemployment rate stays above national average”
November 20, 2012 – “After years of enjoying a better than average jobless rate, Pennsylvania's unemployment is above the national average for a second month.” (More…)
The Baltimore Sun – “Students trapped by high debt, low wages”
November 8, 2012 – “Based on estimates by the Federal Reserve, for the first time in U.S. history, student-loan debt ($867 billion) has surpassed credit card debt ($704 billion). These debt levels have real implications for productivity and lifetime earnings for this current generation of graduates. Much has been written about college students dealing with rising tuition, but there's been much less examination of how substantial student-loan debt, coupled with a slumping economy, affects new graduates.” (More…)
Workforce Central – “Behind the Curtain: A Real Look at the State of the Workforce”
November 7, 2012 – “Drexel University’s Paul Harrington shares insights into what’s behind the 3 million job vacancy numbers and what is actually happening in the labor market in an interview with NAWB CEO Ron Painter.” (More…)
The New York Times – “Major Decisions”
November 2, 2012 – “WHAT’S your major? It’s the defining question for college students — and the cliché that’s launched a thousand friendships and romances. It’s also a question that has become harder for students to answer.” (More…)
Philly.com – “PhillyDeals: Proposed Pennsylvania tax benefit aimed at just one company”
October 19, 2012 – “Like Romney said: Paul Harrington, who heads Drexel University's Center for Labor Markets and Policy in Philadelphia, says he has been fielding inquiries from news media fact-checkers and other truth-seekers to make sure Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was right in Tuesday's debate…” (More…)
Huffington Post - “In First Presidential Debate, Obama Touts Efforts For Increasing Access To College”
October 4, 2012 – “In the first presidential debate Wednesday evening, President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney mostly sparred over taxes, the deficit and the economy. The only other topic to receive much attention throughout the night was education, and the president seemed to be inserting issues relevant to young voters in several of his answers, including his first three.” (More…)
BBC Podcasts – “Jobless US graduates”
October 4, 2012 – “This week's employment figures will be watched closely by both sides of the US presidential race. Business Daily hears how student voters in the feel about poor job prospects and growing debt. Plus - Noel King reports from Cairo on a hi-tech hub which has been created to stimulate entrepreneurship in Egypt.” (Podcast…)
BBC News – “US students struggling with debt”
October 4, 2012 – “America's students have never been in so much debt and in a challenging jobs market the prospects of paying it off are getting harder.” (More…)
BBC News – “US students face worst debt and job prospects ever”
October 3, 2012 – “Class of 2012: In debt and worried about prospects. America's students have never been in so much debt. Their chances of paying it off are getting harder as they struggle to find work.” (More…)
Bloomberg – “U.S. Grads Work As Waiters While Italy’s Remain Jobless”
September 26, 2012 – “The ratio of college-educated 25-to-29-year-olds with jobs outside the so-called college labor market positions surged to 31.5 percent in January through May this year, compared with 26.1 percent in 2007 and 30.1 percent in 2010, according to Neeta Fogg and Paul Harrington at the Drexel University Center for Labor Markets and Policy in Philadelphia.” (More…)
Philly.com – “N.J. jobless rate at 9.9 percent, but 5,300 jobs added”
September 22, 2012 – “Capping off 10 days of poor economic news for Gov. Christie, the state announced Thursday that New Jersey's unemployment rate inched up to 9.9 percent in August even as it continued a yearlong trend in adding 5,300 jobs.” (More…)
The Abington Journal – “Drexel professor emphasizes educational training”
July 25, 2012 – “On June 14, Skills in Scranton board, electronics and health care committee members gathered at The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, 222 Mulberry Street, Scranton to hear guest speaker, Dr. Paul E. Harrington, professor and director for Center for Labor Markets and Policy, Drexel University, spoke about the importance of educational training.” (More…)
ScienceDaily – “No Improvement in Job Market for Young College Grads, Some Deterioration, New Report Reveals”
June 20, 2012 – “Even as the job market has rebounded over the last two years, the employment prospects for young college graduates have continued to deteriorate, according to a new report by Dr. Paul E. Harrington and Dr. Neeta P. Fogg, labor economists in Drexel University's Center for Labor Market and Policy. Rather, even during this period of net job creation, young college graduates saw their employment rates fall at the same time as their mal-employment rates increased.” (More…)
DrexelNOW – “Q & A with Paul Harrington, Director of the Center for Labor Markets and Policy”
February 20, 2012 – “These are extraordinary times to be a labor economist. That makes the Center for Labor Markets and Policy, where Dr. Paul E. Harrington is marking his first year as director, a good place to be.” (More…)
NewsWorks – “In face of discouraging statistics, recent graduates flock to career fair”
June 18, 2012 – “The great recession has hit young people in the labor market particularly hard. New numbers show recent grads still are looking for a light at the end of a long, long tunnel.” (More…)
DrexelNOW – “No Improvement in Job Market for Young College Grads, Some Deterioration, New Report Reveals”
June 18, 2012 – “Even as the job market has rebounded over the last two years, the employment prospects for young college graduates have continued to deteriorate, according to a new report by Dr. Paul E. Harrington and Dr. Neeta P. Fogg, labor economists in Drexel University’s Center for Labor Market and Policy. Rather, even during this period of net job creation, young college graduates saw their employment rates fall at the same time as their mal-employment rates increased.” (More…)
Philadelphia Business Journal – “Job scene brighter?”
June 15, 2012 – “Campus Philly fair sells out weeks early.” (More…)
PBS NewsHour - “For New College Grads, Jobs Outlook Better but Far From Great”
May 4, 2012 – “After a promising start earlier this year, U.S. job growth slowed for a third month in April with just 115,000 jobs added and the unemployment rate dipping slightly to 8.1 percent. Jeffrey Brown discusses the numbers and outlook for college grads with Brandeis University's Catherine Mann and Drexel University's Paul Harrington.” (More…)
The Philadelphia Inquirer Special Report – “Struggling for Work: The Broken Dreams of a New Generation”
2012 - Young people are bearing the brunt of the Great Recession and the changes in the American economy.
In “Struggling for Work: Broken Dreams of a New Generation,” The Inquirer goes behind the unemployment rates and high college debt to describe the struggles young people are facing and detail what needs changing to help them.
To create this series, reporters interviewed more than 280 people — including millennials and their parents — and analyzed government data. Among those interviewed were economists, sociologists, and historians. Groups that specialize in work issues were consulted, including: the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, the MacArthur Foundation’s Network on Transition to Adulthood, the Community College Research Center at Columbia University, and the Center for Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University.” (More…)
The Notebook – “Focus on Dropouts and Jobs: a Neighborhood Story”
February 2012 – “With the United States struggling after a "Great Recession," young adults without a high school diploma are in a world of hurt. ‘That's especially true in Philadelphia, where you've seen the dropout labor market just collapse over the last 30 years,’ said Paul Harrington, the director of Drexel University's Center for Labor Markets and Policy.” (More…)
The Notebook – “No diploma, no job”
February 2012 – “A sluggish economy has made finding work difficult for people from all walks of life. Nationally, the unemployment rate is still above 8 percent. Four people compete for every job.” (More…)
WHYY Radio – Radio Times with Marty Moss- Coane “Reversing Philadelphia’s high school dropout crisis”
February 6, 2012 – “In Philadelphia, over half of all students drop out from high school. In the U.S., only seven of 10 ninth graders will get high school diplomas. … Why are young people dropping out at the highest rate in our nation's history, why do we have to stem the tide, and what's working in schools to encourage young people to graduate?” (More…)
Philadelphia Business Journal – “Tough year ahead for unions”
January 13, 2012 – “Even a few years ago, the agreement reached earlier this week between 1,200 workers represented by the regional unit of the Service Employees International Union and the suburban Philadelphia owners of the office buildings they clean wouldn’t have been a big deal.” (More…)
The Philadelphia Inquirer – “PhillyDeals: Millions of U.S. jobs vacant, but millions more Americans out of work”
November 9, 2011 – “The U.S. Labor Department says 3.4 million American jobs were vacant in September, the most since before the recession started three years ago. Meanwhile, there are still more than 15 million Americans out of work. Who's hiring? Why can't they find the people they need?” (More…)
WPRI.com – “Fogg/Harrington: Fear ‘mal-employment,’ not grad shortage”
July 7, 2011 – “The recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-09 that began in June 2009 has seen the nation’s level of economic output rebound back to its pre-recession peak, rising from $12.8 trillion at the trough of the recession to $13.4 trillion by the first quarter of this year. But there has been no such recovery in the job market.” (More…)
NPR On Point with Tom Ashbrook – “Should Everybody Go to College?”
March 2, 2011 – “Should everybody go to college? A new report questions some basic assumptions about the best path for American kids.” (More…)
DrexelNOW – “Drexel Expands Integration of Education and Employment with New Labor Markets Center”
February 7, 2011 – “Drexel University has created the interdisciplinary Center for Labor Markets and Policy to research and observe the labor market and better align the University’s educational training and work-force development efforts with the job market.” (More…)