On July 27, 2010 NASW attended a workshop on “Jobs for the Future” hosted by N.D.N. and chaired by the United States Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Karen Kornbluh.  Ambassador Kornbluh, previously served for then Senator Barack Obama as his policy director and as Deputy Chief of Staff at the United States Treasury Department.  The Ambassador discussed current research on youth unemployment and what the U.S. is doing at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to address the proliferation of youth unemployment triggered by America’s recession.

It was revealed that across the vast majority of industrialized nations, youth unemployment is greater than unemployment within the general population.  The O.E.C.D. reports that in 2009 youth unemployment dropped more than employment for low-skilled workers and, according to a Pew study released in February 2010, 37% of the American millennial generation, those 18-29 years old, are unemployed or out of the workforce.  The Pew report further notes that this rate of youth unemployment is “the highest share among this age group in more than three decades”.  NASW will continue to examine strategies that will engender prosperity for America and its most vulnerable populations.

The YWCA is one of the largest providers of services for women who are victims of domestic violence. NASW is pleased to work with the YWCA on this and other economic empowerment issues. Help the YWCA raise funding for domestic violence programs now through July 16 by including this hashtag on your tweets: #tweet4ywca. For more about this campaign, including sample tweets and setting up a twitter account, go to http://www.ywca.org/site/pp.asp?c=djISI6PIKpG&b=6116545.