Summer and Youth Employment Resources
Online Communities & Resources
- Sponsored by the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor, WorkforceGPS provides workforce professionals, educators, and business leaders curated communities of interest, useful training resources, promising practices, and evidenced-based research.
- Youth Connections Community of Practice is an online learning destination for public workforce system staff and partners who connect youth to employment, training, and educational opportunities.
Finding Resources for Youth
- Map My Community Tool on youth.gov helps locate Federally-funded youth programs in a designated area by ZIP code search.
- Skills to Pay the Bills: Mastering Soft Skills for Workplace Success is a curriculum developed by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability and Employment Policy focused on teaching "soft" or workforce readiness skills to youth, including youth with disabilities.
Finding Employment Opportunities
- GetMyFuture.org connects young adults to career, education, and job search resources sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration.
Protecting Young Employees
- U.S. Department of Labor Fact Sheet on Internship Programs and the Fair Labor Standards Act (PDF, 2 pages) provides general information to help determine whether interns and students working for “for-profit” employers are entitled to minimum wages and overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Resources on Work Experiences, Leadership, & Training
- youth.gov Youth Employment page provides research and resources on youth employment from the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs.
- U.S. Department of Labor’s Paid and Unpaid Work Experiences are planned, structured learning experience that takes place in a workplace for a limited period of time and provides youth with opportunities for career exploration and skill development.
- U.S. Department of Labor’s Leadership Development Opportunities encourages responsibility, confidence, employability, self-determination, and other positive social behaviors.
- U.S. Department of Labor’s Entrepreneurial Skills Training provides the basics of starting and operating a small business.
- U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Skills Training provides vocational skills that lead to proficiency in performing actual tasks and technical functions required by certain occupational fields at entry, intermediate, or advanced levels.
- Our Journey Together: Work Experience Activities Brief provides a summary of the policies and program design considerations to assist local program operators developing work experience activities for Youth program participants.
- U.S. Department of Labor’s Youth Apprenticeships (PDF, 36 pages) are a valuable work-based learning opportunity that can provide youth with academic and workplace skills that lead to post-secondary education opportunities and careers.
- U.S. Department of Labor’s Guide for Starting Successful High School Apprenticeships Programs (PDF, 16 pages) helps communities prepare high school students for success and ensures businesses have the pipeline of skilled workers they need to thrive.
- Webcast: Summer Employment Webcast Mini-Series informs workforce practitioners about effective practices for operating summer employment programs. The webcasts are snapshots of ideas that workforce professionals may consider when planning their local summer and year-round employment activities.
- Enough is Known for Action Webinar Series: Work Experience highlights innovative approaches taken to implementing work-based learning models into their programming.
- Enough Is Known for Action Webinar Series: Building Registered Apprenticeship Opportunities for Out-of-School Youth. USDOL’s Office of Apprenticeship provides an overview of the Registered Apprenticeship program and discuss efforts to strengthen alignment for out-of-school youth and Registered Apprenticeship placement opportunities.
Financial Literacy
- youth.gov Financial Capability and Literacy Youth Topic provides research and resources on financial capability and literacy from the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs.
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Youth Employment Resource Center shares FDIC’s resources that support financial education and access to safe, affordable insured accounts for youth participating in employment programs. Resources include:
- Money Smart is a comprehensive financial education curriculum designed to help low- and moderate-income individuals outside the financial mainstream enhance their financial skills and create positive banking relationships.
- The Youth Banking Resource Center provides resources to encourage banks and schools to work together to improve the financial skills and experiences of youth.
- FDIC’s Model Safe Accounts Template (PDF, 1 page) reflects the guiding principles of transparent rates and fees that are reasonable and proportional to costs, access to banking services that feature FDIC insurance, and the protections afforded by applicable Federal and State consumer protection laws, regulations, and guidelines.
- The Bureau of Financial Consumer Protection’s Developing the Financial Capability of America’s Young Workers (PDF, 17 pages) highlights key insights shared during the Youth Employment Success Roundtable in 2017.
- U.S. Department of Labor’s Financial Literacy resource page provides information on helping youth with the knowledge and skills they need to achieve long-term financial stability and is critical to their success as a working adult whether they are working in the summer or throughout the year.
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) 2017 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, a review of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Mobile Study, and Youth Employment Programs and Deposit Accounts provides advice and recommendations on initiatives to expand access to banking services by underserved populations.