JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon wants to help teens find summer work
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon announced Monday, a $17 million, five-year commitment to help teens across the U.S. find summer work.
The move is part of the firm’s more than $325 million global investment to equip young adults with the skills and experiences needed to help put them on a path to “greater economic mobility” later in life.
“It’s a moral and economic crisis that too many young people graduate high school without clear pathways to good jobs,” Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase said in a statement.
“We must make it a national priority to provide youth with the skills they need to succeed, and this starts by providing them with meaningful summer work. Our Summer Youth Employment Program does just that by exposing more students to jobs that teach them the skills they need to find careers in growing industries later on.”
The company said $3 million of the $17 million investment will go to various organizations in 19 U.S. cities this summer to provide training and work experiences for young people. Some of those cities include Chicago, IL; Cleveland, OH; Dallas, TX; Boston, MA; and Fort Lauderdale, FL.
However, according to a 2016 survey conducted by JPMorgan, the demand for summer employment remains higher than the number of available job opportunities. The report also found that the summer employment rate for teens across the U.S. has fallen to 34 percent, a near record low and a 20 percentage point drop since 1995. Though despite the creation of more summer gigs, only approximately 38% of teens and young adults were able to find work.
JPMorgan also predicts that by 2025, 65% of jobs in the U.S. will require some postsecondary education, training or credential—that number is up from 28% of jobs in the 1970’s.