WHY IT'S IN U.S. INTERESTS TO HAVE HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT

http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/276502.html

Youth unemployment serves corporate, military interests
Thu Dec 6, 2012 10:41AM
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The underlying reason for the alarming high unemployment rate among America’s youth is the desire to “increase corporate profits” and “to create a fearful, obedient, passive citizenry,” says political commentator Mark Mason from San Francisco.

“By maintaining high unemployment that creates a large, cheap labor pool, it destroys labor unions, it drives down wages and benefits. All this increases corporate profits and reduces the pressure from the working community and the youth that would be going into the labor pool,” Mason said on Wednesday.

Mason added, “The goal is to destroy expectations, to create a cheap labor force, to drive down wages and benefits and to also create a pool of youth who would be available for military expeditions and to maintain and expand the American empire.”

Nearly 6.5 million U.S. teens and young adults are neither in school nor working, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The report warns of a future of chronic unemployment due to a continuing failure to educate and train America's youth in needed skills.

The most recent "Kids Count" report, one of the most widely cited surveys of how youth fare in the United States, found that young people aged 16 to 24 are facing serious barriers to successful careers as youth unemployment has reached its highest level since World War II.

Only about half of young people in that age group held jobs in 2011, according to the report, titled "Youth and Work: Restoring Teen and Young Adult Connections to Opportunity."

The employment rate for teens between the ages of 16 and 19 has fallen 42 percent over the last decade: 2.2 million teens and 4.3 million young adults aged 20 to 24 are neither working nor in school. Of those without school or work, 21 percent -- or 1.4 million -- are young parents.

AHT/HJ