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Calling on local firms

EDITORIAL | Editorial | summer jobs

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

February 23, 2012

MANY BOSTONIANS over the age of 40 can recall the ease of finding summer employment during their teenage years. But it’s not so for today’s teens, especially without the help of city officials who employ young people in city work crews or match them with corporate partners.

Today, scores of Boston teens from the Dorchester-based Youth Jobs Coalition are scheduled to demonstrate for summer jobs in the Financial District. They are targeting Fidelity Investments, which last year employed only a handful of teens through the city’s summer jobs program, according to city officials. Other financial-services firms, including State Street, Liberty Mutual, Bank of America, and John Hancock, hired more from the city program.

But Fidelity, at least, hired some, and makes generous donations to college and career readiness programs in both public and parochial school settings in and around Boston. About 80 percent of the 590 Boston companies with 100 employees or more in Boston are not hiring any youths for summer jobs, according to city figures. And while many of them, like Fidelity, are charitable in other ways, summer jobs go beyond charity to spur career ambitions in young people.

There are many tech-savvy, earnest teens who are eager to understand what happens in the gleaming office towers of downtown, and to help the bottom line of local companies. The Boston Private Industry Council, which coordinates the private-sector component of the city’s summer jobs programs, has a good record of matching the needs of the companies with the skills of the students.

Boston teens are demonstrating for a chance to work for about $8 an hour. Fidelity, to its credit, seems to be listening. A spokesman said this week that the company is exploring ways to expand its summer jobs program.

Others should follow suit. Massachusetts employers fret that thousands of full-time technical jobs go wanting for lack of good candidates. But many of these jobs, which don’t require four-year college degrees, could be filled in short order if companies invested a little more now in summer employment.