High jobless rate swaying young Americans

Chris Woodward   (OneNewsNow.com) Tuesday, August 07, 2012

A non-partisan organization for young Americans is urging its base to call the White House about the lackluster job market.

Paul Conway, president of Generation Opportunity, tells OneNewsNow the effort began last month.

"We're trying to encourage folks to pick up their phone, pick up their cell phone anywhere they are and call the White House ...." he explains. "Last month, we had tons and tons of people doing that, and the White House started hanging up on young Americans."

Conway finds that surprising, especially considering the amount of support Obama got from that demographic in 2008.
"In 2008, 66 percent of American millennials went with candidate Obama," he recalls. "Now, a recent poll from the Service Employees International Labor Union -- a labor union -- indicated that only 49 percent of young adults are confident that they will go with Barack Obama. Now young Americans are saying We don't like the direction of the country, we don't like the lack of jobs and we're fully in play."
Unemployment rose to 8.3 percent last month, but Conway points out that the rate for Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 is 12.7 percent. The rate is even higher for Hispanics and African-Americans. And that 12.7 percent does not include the 1.7 million young adults in America who have given up on finding work. When that number is factored in, the jobless rate is more like 16.7 percent -- the highest since World War II.