A few days back, one of my tennis buddies asked if I was aware of a jarring and disturbing statistic.
“Do you know,” Joe Conrado began, “that more than 20 percent of young people ages 16 to 24 in Indian River County are not in school AND not working?”
I didn’t.
But many of you know Conrado, the Castaway Cove resident who owns four local McDonald’s restaurants and has been living the American dream since immigrating to this country from the Canary Islands, via Venezuela, as a teen who didn’t speak English.
I detailed Conrado’s rags-to-riches story, in fact, in a column I wrote last year, when I told you how he combined a blue-collar work ethic with an Indian River Community College education to become a successful businessman and prominent contributor to our community.
So when he suggested I look into the numbers, which he came upon as a member of Indian River State College’s board of trustees, I asked him to send me a link to the information.
Here’s what I found at OpportunityIndex.org:
- 21.5 percent of county residents in the 16 to 24 age group are not in school and not working.
- The county number is well above those for the state (15.3 percent) and nation (13.8 percent).
- The 2015 number is up from 19.18 percent in 2011, despite claims that the economy, both nationally and locally, is improving.
The Index refers to those in this category as “disconnected youth,” but it merely provides statistics – not explanations.
“If you’re in that age group and you’re not in school and not working, that’s a problem, because you’re not learning and you’re not getting the social and business skills you’re going to need for the rest of your life,” Conrado said. “And if that’s a trend, it doesn’t look good for the future of that group.”
According to its website, the Opportunity Index “is designed to provide a snapshot of what opportunity looks like at the state and county levels.
The Index uses data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Education and Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as Local Area Unemployment Statistics tables.
“These young people aren’t in school and aren’t working,” Conrado said. “They’re not in high school or college, and they don’t have jobs. So what are they doing?
“I have no idea.”
I have a few.
Surely, with so many “disconnected youth” among us – we’re talking about more than one in five of our young people in that age group – many are living with the parents.
Maybe they went to college and returned home because they can’t find jobs in their fields.
Maybe they finished high school, can’t or don’t want to go to college, and can’t get jobs because local employers would rather hire experienced adults and retirees who make up a sizable chunk of our population.
Maybe they dropped out of school and their parents are simply allowing them to stay home until they figure out what they want to do with their lives.
Some in the 18 to 24 age group, I’m guessing, have decided that it’s easier to collect a government check than work for minimum wage. Apparently, they also have no interest in joining our Armed Forces.
“In that age group, you tend to be looking at entry-level positions, and I know there are opportunities available, both full-time and part-time,” said Penny Chandler, president of the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce. “But employers prefer to hire people who have some working background and training to do the job, people who are dependable.
“There are definitely a lot of older people in the work force here, and those people have a lifetime of education, experience and skills, which might put them ahead of somebody younger,” she added. “Also, we have adults and seniors who need to take these kinds of retail and service-industry jobs, perhaps on a part-time basis to supplement their incomes.
“But there are other factors, too.”
Among them:
- Job candidates in that age group have little or no experience when applying or interviewing for jobs.
- Some teens don’t have cars and are hindered by the lack of convenient public transportation, which Chandler said also could make it difficult for those who might want to go to college locally.
- Those who drop out of school are impeded by their lack of education and training needed to qualify for some jobs.
“That age group,” Chandler said, “is the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population in the U.S.”
I didn’t know that, either.
I do know Conrado, however, and I know him well enough to know that, because of his life experience, he’s willing to give young people a chance.
He hires high school kids, college students and young adults. He works around their academic schedules. He rewards them for their performance, encourages their education and wants them to be as successful as he is. But, he said, “We don’t get the applicants.” Not many of them, anyway.
“The largest percentage of my employees are adults trying to support their families,” said Conrado, who owns three McDonald’s on U.S. 1 – at Oslo Road, 19th Place and 53rd Street – and one at the Vero Beach Outlets, just west of Interstate 95.
“I do have teenagers who work part-time while they’re going to school, which is how it’s supposed to be,” he continued. “You look at most successful people, and they had part-time jobs while they went to school.”
So do the “disconnected youth” in our county not want to connect?
“I think a big problem is that some kids have lost interest at the high school level and they’re just wandering out there,” Conrado said. “They don’t care about school. They’re not working. They’ve been allowed to fall through the cracks and fail.
“”We’ve got to do something,” said Conrado. “That 21.5 percent is a bad sign for those young people – and for our community.”
