Out of Work: Youth Unemployment in Baltimore

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Title of Thesis: Out of Work: Youth Unemployment in Baltimore City

Name of degree candidate: Alexandra Wilding

Degree and Year: Master of Arts, 2012

Thesis directed by: Dr. Katherine C. McAdams, Associate Dean,

Philip Merrill College of Journalism

A 2012 report from the Economic Policy Institute in Washington said that since the start of the recession in December 2007, young adults have attained the highest unemployment rate on record since 1948.

Through a series of interviews, this project aims to explore the reasons and effects of unemployment on Baltimore's young adults.

To complete the project, approximately 13 youth aged 17 to 24 were interviewed in the winter and spring of 2012.

Almost all of the youth interviewed for this project said that getting further education was a key to having better work options. But simultaneously, the majority of out-of-work youth interviewed for the project lacked any consistent work experiences.

The project aims to give a human face to statistics about youth unemployment using community reporting as a model to tell the stories of young people out of work in Baltimore in 2012. Access the project: www.alexandrawilding.com/youthunemployment.