The New York Times reported on Friday that teenage unemployment has hit all-time high record levels. In August, unemployment among teens was at 25.5%, the highest since 1948 when the government started keeping data.

Citing one such example of teen joblessness, the Times reported that unemployed and frustrated 18-year-old Ronnie Bonilla of Miami had put in applications at Walgreens, Kmart and Chuck-E-Cheese, among other places. " I am looking for anything to pay the bills, "Bonilla lamented. "You name it, I applied. And I never even heard from them. "

Congress allocated 1.2 billion dollars from the stimulus package for youth jobs and training, yet clearly, one in four teenagers still can't find a job. According to the article, economists say there are a multitude of reasons for teenage unemployment which the stimulus money is/was supposed to address.

Marvin Kosters, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, suggested increases in the minimum wage may have made employers reluctant to hire teenagers. Well, give that man the Noble Prize for Economics! Of course the increase in the minimum wage is causing business owners to be hesitant to hire teenagers! If you make something more expensive, you will get less of it.

Congress could have saved the 1.2 billion dollars and deferred the minimium wage increase until sometime in the future. Better yet, they could have repealed recent increases to allow struggling businesses to profitably hire young people with minimal skills. Then thousands of people like young Bonilla would have jobs now. Win-win. Why can't politicians understand that?

Decison-Making Best Practice #18: Remember Occam's Razor. The simplest solution is frequently the best.

Labels: Congress, economics, jobs, Occam's Razor, teens, unemployment