Teens -- get a job! Here's how

By Dan Chapman

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Roughly $160 million from Washington is headed Georgia’s way to hire 15,000 teenagers and 5,000 adults this summer.

Businesses, local governments and nonprofits that employ young people between the ages of 14 and 18 will be fully reimbursed with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The economic stimulus money will cover 80 percent of adults’ salaries.

“We have a unique opportunity to put Georgians back to work, reinvigorate Georgia businesses and spark an economic recovery across our state,” B.J. Walker, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Services, said in a statement released Tuesday.

DHS will run the program, the latest federally financed effort to reduce the nation’s 9.7 percent unemployment rate. Metro Atlanta’s jobless rate is 10.8 percent.

In all, 287,616 Atlantans are unemployed, according to the state Labor Department. So the creation of 20,000 jobs will help parry, at least temporarily, the lingering recession’s blows.

“Do you want temporary jobs being created from all this money or would you rather have permanent jobs created?” asked Don Sabbarese, director of Kennesaw State’s Econometric Center. “The federal government has to establish an environment by which small businesses have an incentive to start hiring more people and creating permanent private sector jobs.”

The teen job program, which pays $8.50 an hour, runs June 1 to July 31. Eligible applicants must come from homes making less than $66,000 a year for a family of four.

Employers must cover 20 percent of an adult worker’s salary. The adult must have at least one dependent child and an income below $66,000 for a family of four. The adult jobs program ends in late September.

“These jobs will provide opportunities for youths to learn essential new work habits, and will give adults an opportunity to learn new skills,” Walker said. “And [the subsidy] gives employers strong incentives to hire.”

About one-third of the $160 million will help families with “one-time emergencies” for rent, mortgage and utility payments. It will also be used for child care for working parents.

For more information: www.jobsforgeorgia.org and www.georgiateenwork.org.