Page 52 - June 23, 2017

Groton Daily Independent
Friday, June 23, 2017 ~ Vol. 24 - No. 344 ~ 52 of 54
Not until now has Collin Shipp, 18, who just graduated from Loudoun’s Woodgrove High School, ever looked for a summer job. A high school athlete, he spent previous summers trying to shave his time in the 400-meter dash and improving his distance in the triple jump.
“Track was my job,” he says.
Paul Harrington, Neeta Fogg and Ishwar Khatiwada of Drexel’s Center for Labor Markets and Policy studied average teen employment rates from June through August. They found that the percentage of employed 16-to-19-year-olds fell from 45 percent in 1986 to 30 percent last year. (Their numbers are lower than the July-only gures because teens are less likely to work in June and August.)
They forecast that teens’ June-August employment rate will reach 30.5 percent this year, surpassing 30 percent for the rst time since the recession year of 2009 and evidence of an overall improved job market. But it’s still a lot lower than it used to be. Drexel’s Harrington laments the decline of summer employment for teens. In addition to providing on-the-job experience, summer work has proved especially valuable for poor urban youths. Harrington cites research showing that city teens who participate in summer jobs pro- grams achieve higher school attendance and academic performance and are less likely to commit crimes. The value of summer work is hardly con ned to American teens. Emily Lyons, CEO of Femme Fatale Media Group, which provides models and dancers for corporate events, recalls a summer job that wasn’t
exactly pleasant.
The job stank. Literally.
Lyons spent the summer of 1998 working part time on an Ontario garlic farm, picking, sorting and pack-
ing the pungent plants.
“It was hard, dirty and strong-smelling work,” she recalls. In business, she discovered, “you have to be
able to wear many hats and be willing to get your hands dirty. You can’t be too good for any role.” Lyons carried those lessons — and experience from other youthful jobs as a nanny, a hotel housekeeper and a blueberry picker — into a career as an entrepreneur and eventually to her current post as a chief
executive.
“Every job along the way taught me different lessons that I carry with me today,” she says.
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AP writers Carrie Antl nger in Milwaukee and Candice Choi in New York contributed to this report. ___
Follow Paul Wiseman on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PaulWisemanAP
World shares mixed as investors assess oil, China clampdown By KELVIN CHAN, AP Business Writer
HONG KONG (AP) — World stock markets were mixed on Friday as oil prices stabilized and investors assessed Beijing’s moves to tighten up on some Chinese companies as well as the latest survey on euro- zone economic growth.
KEEPING SCORE: European shares fell in early trading. France’s CAC 40 shed 0.3 percent to 5,266.34 and Germany’s DAX lost 0.3 percent to 12,761.29. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.3 percent to 7,418.06. Wall Street was poised to open higher, with Dow futures up 0.1 percent to 21,368.00 and broader S&P 500 futures rising 0.1 percent to 2,435.30.
ASIA’S DAY: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index nished 0.1 percent higher at 20,132.67 and South Ko- rea’s Kospi added 0.4 percent to 2,378.60. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was practically unchanged at 25,670.05 while the Shanghai Composite in mainland China swung between gains and losses before ending 0.3 percent higher at 3,157.87. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 crept up 0.2 percent to 5,715.90.
EBBING ENERGY: Crude oil’s extended decline this week and the effect it is having on broader nancial markets weighed on investor sentiment and dragged down energy shares. Crude prices rose on Thursday for the rst time in four days but prices are still near their lowest level since August. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 24 cents to $42.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 21 cents to settle at $42.74 per barrel on Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, added