"Now Jobs" Prepare Young Adults for Long-Term Success

Many young peo­ple, espe­cial­ly young peo­ple of col­or, live in com­mu­ni­ties lack­ing strong schools, reli­able pub­lic trans­porta­tion options and fam­i­ly-sus­tain­ing jobs. Some of these indi­vid­u­als are also jug­gling fam­i­ly respon­si­bil­i­ties or ven­tur­ing into the world of work with­out the aid of adult mentors.

The unem­ploy­ment rate for indi­vid­u­als ages 16 to 29 tops 8% — more than dou­ble the nation­al unem­ploy­ment rate.

It’s a chal­leng­ing land­scape — one where a cat­e­go­ry of work called ​“now jobs” can play an impor­tant role in prepar­ing young adults for suc­cess, accord­ing to a new report from the Aspen Institute.

The pub­li­ca­tion, which gleans lessons learned from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Gen­er­a­tion Work ini­tia­tive, explains how ​“now jobs” can help young adults address their imme­di­ate income needs while also prepar­ing them for long-term career oppor­tu­ni­ties. These jobs can take a vari­ety of forms, includ­ing short- and long-term intern­ships and sub­si­dized employ­ment arrange­ments. The report, Now Jobs in Young Adult Work­force Pro­gram­ming, rec­og­nizes ​“now jobs” for:

• offer­ing valu­able work expe­ri­ence to young adults who have nev­er had a job;
• pro­vid­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn about work­place norms and prac­tice con­flict-res­o­lu­tion strate­gies; and
• help­ing young peo­ple explore their strengths, tal­ents and inter­ests while expand­ing their pro­fes­sion­al networks.

Many work­force pro­grams — includ­ing those in two Gen­er­a­tion Work part­ner­ships — are incor­po­rat­ing a ​“now job” approach to sup­port young peo­ple as they devel­op the skills and cre­den­tials need­ed to land high­er-pay­ing positions.

“When incor­po­rat­ed as part of a con­tin­u­um of ser­vices and sup­ports, ​‘now jobs’ can be a pow­er­ful tool to get more young adults on the path­way to careers,” says Alli­son Ger­ber, a senior asso­ciate at the Casey Foundation.

Read the report