LearningtoWork_TX-final31-2

Michelle Castillo
and Marianela Acuña Arreaza
August 2016
LEARNING
TO WORK
IN TEXAS

Learning to Work in Texas
Acknowledgements
Thisbriefisaculminationofthededication,work,andsupportofmany.ThankyouHoustonEndowment,
Rockwell Fund, and Simmons Foundation for funding our work. Thank you to the partners, schools, and
faith communities that made our Texas Jobs Tour possible: Fe y Justicia Worker Center, Avenue CDC,
Neighborhood Centers, HATCH, United We Dream, Liberty High School, Lone Star College Cypress,
HoustonCommunityCollege,GenesysWorks,SERJobsforProgress,andHolyNameCatholicChurch.
Thank you José Eduardo Sanchez, Rebecca Fowler, Maggie Jo Buchanan, Tom Allison, Eve Rips, Chris
Nellum, Sanchi Khare, Kaile Sepnafski, Trevor Jackson, Rory O’Sullivan and Jen Mishory for your time
and contribution to this brief.
Thank you to the young people that shared their hopes, fears, and dreams with us. This brief can
never do the entirety of your spirit justice and you are why we commit ourselves daily to the work of
economic fairness and justice.

3
Introduction
Young workers make up a significant part of the Texas workforce, with 39.7 percent between the ages of 16
to 34 years old.1
The state’s economic prospect rests on this generation’s ability to secure good jobs and to
supportthemselvesandtheirfamilies.However,youngpeopletodayaremorelikelytoearnlessthanprevious
generations, face skyrocketing higher education costs, and have dim prospects of social mobility as a result.2
While state median wages in Texas have gone up in recent years, wages for young Texas workers are down.
In 2014, the median annual income for a young adult worker in Texas was $26,211, down $1,149 (when
controlled for inflation) since the Great Recession.3
The unemployment rate for young workers ages 16 to
24 is 13.4 percent,4
roughly triple the statewide figure.5
Without action on the part of policymakers, the state
could harm its economic prospects for years to come.
Elected officials in Texas have taken some action in recent years to prepare young workers better for the 21st
century workforce. At the state level, the legislature has attempted to create stronger career pathways and
college counseling for high schools students. At the local level, Houston recently launched a new summer
program for youth. These actions have the potential to help high school students, postsecondary students,
and young adults out of school looking for work in unique ways. Though these and other initiatives are in their
early stages and success remains to be seen, the momentum is headed in the right direction.
Recognizing this, Young Invincibles launched the Texas Jobs Tour in 2015, with a focus on Houston, to identify
how best to address the unique needs of young workers in the state as more reforms are enacted. Too often,
young adult voices are left out of critical policy conversations that impact their future. During the summer
and fall of 2015, Young Invincibles set up over 20 focus groups with the help of numerous partners, reaching
over 250 young participants. We also reviewed existing data around youth unemployment challenges both
across Texas and locally in Houston, identifying major employment trends and opportunities for addressing
those challenges.
While a forthcoming report will provide comprehensive findings from our conversations during the Tour, this
policy brief focuses on two themes we heard related to workforce development. The young workers we
spoke with generally expressed a desire for 1) more early work experiences that build toward their career
interests, and 2) training on practical job search skills like resume writing, networking, and interviewing skills.
Based on these conversations, we detail an agenda for city and state policymakers that would build upon
current initiatives. To improve job search skills and connections to the job market, the state of Texas must
strengthen high school advising programs and improve access to information about career outcomes at Texas
Colleges. Cities have a role to play as well by expanding basic job search initiatives for their youngest workers.
Local and state policymakers must also expand early work experience opportunities for young Texans. We
are particularly interested in expanding Hire Houston Youth and implementing reforms such as year-round
jobs, and alignment with key growth industries. Statewide, legislators should look to expand the state work
study program at Texas universities and create a robust apprenticeship program.
We also note that most of these proposals address the challenges of students in high school or postsecondary
education, but not those who are both out-of-work and out-of-school. This high-need population often

4
requires additional resources to reconnect with the workforce. Reforms to city employment programs can
help address these gaps, but we acknowledge that a more comprehensive approach targeted specifically at
this population is also needed.
State of Young Texas: Initial Progress on Youth Workforce
Development
Recently, state and local lawmakers in Texas have taken a series of key steps to connect education and career
outcomes. In the local context, we focus on Houston’s initiatives--largely unreplicated elsewhere in the state-
-to demonstrate both opportunities for the city to build on its own efforts, and also opportunities for the city
to serve as an example for others. Multiple Houston programs are also in the early stages, providing ample
opportunities to best address the needs of young workers and the businesses that hope to hire them. The
momentum demonstrated by city and state lawmakers suggest openings for further reforms.
Statewide Action
In recent years, Texas lawmakers have acted to pass bipartisan legislation aimed at helping young workers
in several ways. For example, legislators have created academies to support counselors’ college and career
advising,6
and to remove limitations on the number of dual credit courses students can enroll in.7
In 2013, the Texas legislature took a substantial step toward increasing alignment between K-12 academic
coursework and college or career pathways by passing HB 5. In addition to reducing the number of testing
requirements for high school students, HB 5 increased career exploration options for high school studentsby
providingavarietyofgraduationplanstoexploretheirinterestsandsupporttheirfuturecareergoals.8
Under
HB 5, most Texas students are required to satisfy basic foundation requirements for graduation, and then
select an additional sequence of courses geared directly toward career development under one of several
“endorsements” that are organized around different interests, including Science, Technology, Engineering
and Math (STEM); Business and Industry; Public Services; Arts and Humanities; and Multidisciplinary
Studies.9
HB 5 also raised the level of communication expected between school officials and students and
their families. School administrators or counselors are now required to start postsecondary education and
career planning conversations with students as early as eighth grade.10
The efforts to increase curriculum flexibility also received skepticism that the stated goal of empowering
students and their families with college and career knowledge would succeed. Concerns centered on the
fact that some course options lowered education requirements over all, and that low-income students with
less parental support could end up in pathways that did not prepare them for the colleges or careers they
sought.11
Although the law itself appears to try to prevent that kind of tracking through greater engagement
with counselors, it is unclear whether enough counseling resources exist to meet student needs. It remains
to be seen whether HB5’s implementation will achieve its intended goals.
In 2015, a significant update to the Texas College Work Study Program (TCWSP)--one of the very few state
work study programs in the country12
--was enacted (SB 1750). Higher education institutions receiving
program funding are now required to provide 20 percent to 50 percent of their TCWSP students with off-
campus employment opportunities related to the student’s major or career interest.13
The TCWSP covers 75

5
percent of the salary for on-campus positions compared to 50 percent of the salary for off-campus positions.
Thus, SB 1750’s shift to off-campus positions for work- study students frees additional program dollars so
that the program can serve more students.14
Importantly, this program update did not restrict institutions’ ability to find students for on-campus jobs, but
rather shifted the intent of the state’s work study program to incentivize institutions to help match students
to work study opportunities that more closely aligned with their majors or careers. The measure also
requires institutions of higher education to identify and partner with off-campus nonprofits and businesses
to foster the development of regional employment opportunities and tangible career pathways for work-
study students to pursue post graduation.15
Finally, Texas’ executive branch has also begun the process of evaluating how best to strengthen workforce
development for young Texans. In 2016, Governor Greg Abbott established an interagency task force on
college affordability and workforce development. The task force, initially charged with conducting a six-
month listening tour, is led jointly by the Texas Education Agency, Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board, and Texas Workforce Commission.16
One key item the task force is charged with is to examine local
workforce needs and build workforce development models tailored to these needs. Expanding on previous
policy changes and effectively leveraging the results of the executive branch’s initiatives will be essential in
upcoming legislative session.
Local Action: Houston Case Study
Texas has experienced regional policy momentum on workforce development in key communities as well.
In 2016, Houston launched two new workforce initiatives led by Mayor Sylvester Turner, Turnaround
Houston17
and Hire Houston Youth.18
The programs engage multiple partners from the public and private
sectors to support job creation for young Houstonians and hard to employ adults.
The Turnaround Houston initiative is a series of fairs that offer access to job training, resume writing,
tattoo removal, social service agencies, educational institutions, counseling, and intervention to help hard-
to-employ Houstonians.19
The program is not specifically targeted at youth but could potentially reach this
population. The inaugural Turnaround Houston event occurred in March 2016, with further events planned
for September and November of 2016.
Hire Houston Youth is a city-wide youth summer jobs initiative that kicked off during the summer of 2016.
Currently, the city has an unemployment rate for young people ages 14 - 24 of 12.7 percent -- lower than
some areas but approximately triple the overall state unemployment rate. 20
The program’s initial goal was
to connect 450 students ages 16 - 24 to entry-level jobs or internships in both the public and private sector
while guaranteeing a minimum of $8 an hour pay. In addition, the students participate in a career readiness
training one week prior to the start of the program.21
In just its first year, Hire Houston Youth had over 2,000
applicants with only 450 spots available.22
Houston’s new initiatives are of particular interest because these
programs are in the early stages and therefore easily adaptable to experimentation and change.

6
The Young Texas Works Jobs Tour
Policy developments like those described above, while well-intentioned, only address a small portion of the
challenges facing young Texans looking for quality jobs. Recognizing this, Young Invincibles organized the
Young Texas Works Jobs Tour to bring a missing young adult perspective into critical conversations about
workforce development in Texas. We believe that taking into account the lived experience of young Texas
workers will ultimately lead to better policy.
During the summer and fall of 2015, we set out to highlight young people’s experiences with work, focusing
on Houston, and involving young Texans in the research, analysis, and policy recommendations. The tour
itself consisted of over twenty focus groups reaching over 250 young participants.
We heard from young people that represented diversity in educational attainment, employment status, as
well as racial and ethnic backgrounds and gender identity. We sought out a variety of different partners
to accomplish this goal. Our partners included five community organizations, five colleges, two universities,
two workforce development agencies, one church, and one alternative high school, and emphasized groups
who engage underrepresented communities. Over 60 percent of the student body of Houston Community
College, for example, is Hispanic or African American.23
Over 90 percent of those served by Genesys Works
program in 2015 were people of color.24
HATCH Youth, another one of our partners, focuses their work on
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual and allied youth aged 13-20.25
Our
efforts focused on Houston with nineteen focus groups taking place across the city.
Job Search Skills
Though a more comprehensive account of the stories and experience shared during the Jobs Tour is
forthcoming, this brief focuses on solutions tied to two common themes that emerged related to the
workforce development. First, young people frequently brought up the need for greater job search skills.
Despite the far-ranging nature of our conversations, these skills were in the top three most frequent topic
discussed, and were a concern for both high school students and those in college. Participants spoke about
problems with networking, creating resumes, writing cover letters, and interviewing. One young Houstonian
explained to us that, while she knew building a professional resume was vital to landing her first job, she had
never received any guidance on how to do so--or even on how to best dress for an interview. “[S]omething
that is absolutely a barrier when you’re finding a job is whenever you are very young and you are not able
to come up with a good resume and good skills… We don’t really get that in high school... none of them have
given me… this is how you do your resume, what to put in it, how you go to an interview… this is how you
dress up.”26
Young workers often have little experience with finding jobs and, as the woman above noted, lack
access to training for these basic skills.
A further challenge in landing an early job is building a professional network without the benefit of experience
working in the field. Another participant noted that “trying to go from jobs as a student to career kind of jobs,
I think one of the main barriers was lacking an access point… Really what opened the door for me for that first
position, when I think back it was the network. It was an alumni network that I was able to access, and that’s
something that I realize not a lot of people have.”27
As the young worker noted, many do not have a point of
access into a field, making it more difficult to find and apply for open positions.

7
Entry Level Experience Paradox
The second major theme revolved around a lesson in paradoxes most young workers find when they seek
their first jobs. Even for entry-level positions, employers will often look for prior experience in a field when
young workers have had little opportunity to gain it. “[Employers] nowadays want to hire young people with
lots of experience and a college degree too. [...]Sometimes I feel that they don’t have the time to train the new
people.Theywanteverything now.”28
The seemingly impossible requirements generate significant frustration
on the part of young workers.
These problems can be compounded as students advance through school, and employers expect more
substantive job experience along with increased education. Further, as tuition rises and need-based financial
aid fails to keep up, more students must seek out paid work in order to stay enrolled in school. Too often, the
paid work that is available to young people does not help them develop the skills to make them competitive
for jobs in the careers they are studying to enter. “I’ve never had a problem getting a job,” a young University
of Texas student explained, “[but] the only jobs that are available to get is like waitressing or ...retail.”29
Often the only opportunities to gain experience in a student’s chosen career path take the form of unpaid
internships. Even internships, which many think of as truly entry-level positions, sometimes require previous
experience. Even one Master’s student told us that his degrees were simply not enough for employers to
seriously consider his job application. He found that he needed substantive work experience in his field,
“even for volunteer or internship opportunities!”30
Unlike their more affluent peers, low-income students are
frequently unable to take advantage of unpaid internships where they might otherwise gain the necessary
skillset and social network to advance their careers post college completion.31
Concerns about finding and securing opportunities for early work experience are well founded. Early
employment can have lasting effects on economic security, lifelong earnings, and social well-being.32
Young Texas Works Agenda
ThemomentumaroundincreasingemploymentprospectsforyoungTexanscreatesanumberofopportunities
to address the challenges shared during our jobs tour. Texas policymakers must pursue a variety of solutions.
Young workers need opportunities to build careers skills while in school, receive better job search training,
and gain skills that match their interests as well as the needs of employers in their region.
Change must start in high schools with stronger career counseling, better information for students and
families, and early work opportunities. Young workers need continued support as they pursue postsecondary
education including connections to internships in their fields of study, year round employment, and programs
that teach skills employers need. Increasing access to key career skills, better information, and connections
to growing industries will empower young Texans to make decisions about the career pathways that achieve
their long-term goals.

8
CONNECT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH CAREER PATHWAYS
Ensuring young Texans have opportunities to build job search skills, acquire on-the-job experience, and make
smart career choices begins in high school. School counselors are a natural source of information, but need
trainingandresourcestosupportstudentsastheyexplorecareeroptions.Studentsalsoneedearlyinternship
and work opportunities where they can acquire basic career skills that set them up for later success in the
working world. Below we lay out priorities that address these concerns both statewide and at the city level
with a focus on Houston.
Increase the number of High School and College Advisors
Awealthofresearchdemonstratesstudentaccesstocounselingleadstohighertestscores,highergraduation
rates,33
and higher rates of college enrollment.34
While the Texas legislature has taken some steps recognizing
the critical role counselors play, it has also cut the overall number of counselors available making it more
difficult for them to do their jobs. Policymakers must reverse this trend for students to thrive.
As of 2014, Texas has about one high school counselor for every 465 students.35
This is substantially higher
than the American School Counselor Association’s maximum recommended ratio of no more than 250 high
school students for every one counselor.36
Texas had a higher number counselors before recession-related
budget cuts reduced the number statewide in 2011. Worse still, as the student population grows, the number
of students served by each counselor will grow as well.
Meanwhile as financial support for school counselors dwindles, the legislature has placed greater demands
on their time. Not only must they serve more students than they once did, the changes brought about by
HB 5 require greater engagement from counselors in supporting student education and career pathways.
First, students have more graduation options that counselors need to understand and provide guidance
about. Second, the law requires counselors to have conversations about college and career pathways as early
as middle school increasing their time commitments. Doing more with fewer counselors is not a recipe for
success, particularly given that counseling programs were understaffed to start.
The state legislature has made limited progress in supporting counselors. It passed HB 18 in 2015 to create
postsecondary and career counseling academies for counselors serving middle and high school students.
Additionally, the law requires the Texas Education Agency Commissioner to work with the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Workforce Commission to create content for the academies
that is based on regional workforce demands.37
Greater training should help counselors improve their ability
to assist students, but it cannot make up for the fundamental numbers dilemma.
A good first action step is to reduce the student-to-counselor ratio to at least pre-recession levels of
approximately 430:1. That would cost about $66 million a year.38
Once achieved, legislators should examine
ways to further increase the number of counselors including through additional resources and through
cost-effective college advising programs driven by recent college graduates. This state work could be
complemented by implementing Young Invincibles’ national recommendation to expand the AmeriCorps
program.39
Part of that proposal is to establish a new “American Counseling Fellows” program. Doing so
would send 30,000 recent college graduates into our nation’s high schools in order to aid students.40
The
demonstrated benefits that good counseling can bring to students’ college and career prospects make the
worthiness of these investments clear.

9
Improve Access to Data on College and Career Outcomes
Compoundingthecounselorshortage,Texasstudentsalsolackbasicinformationtoevaluatetheircollegeand
career options. Choosing which college to attend, what to study, and how to finance it, are complex decisions,
whose outcomes are difficult to project. When students and families are provided with information about
college costs and graduates’ career outcomes, they make more informed decisions.41
However, a federal law
known as the student unit record ban currently prevents the U.S. Department of Education from providing
this information at a fully comprehensive level.42
Texas, though, can and should do so.
Providing this kind of information is invaluable for college and career success. Rising tuition means that the
vast majority of students must take out loans in order to afford post-secondary education. Since 2003, tuition
at Texas public higher education institutions has increased 55 percent43
with the average graduating college
senior at a four-year university owing $26,250 in debt.44
For many students, this is the most complex financial
transactiontheywillmakeapartfromtakingoutamortgage.Typicallyconsumerstakingoutloanstopurchase
major products such as cars have access to comprehensive information about features, durability, and
drawbacks. Students on the other hand, routinely lack information about a program’s quality and outcomes,
such as how many students find jobs, how much they earn, and how many can successfully pay back their
student loans. They have to make choices about where to go and how much debt to take out without knowing
how likely they’ll be able to pay it back.
Though the federal government is restricted from providing full information about college outcomes, state
data systems can fill in the gaps. Fortunately, a data-sharing agreement exists in Texas.45
Employment rates
and median earnings of Texas students are among the metrics the state can measure and share.46
TheTexasEducationAgency,TexasCoordinatingBoardofHigherEducationandTexasWorkforceCommission
should improve information for students in two ways. First, Texas should capture longitudinal data on overall
earnings by major across all Texas higher education institutions. By matching up student-level educational
data with workforce outcomes, these agencies can create data about school outcomes including employment
rates and average incomes of graduates.
The state must also work with entrepreneurs and nonprofits to present the information in a way students can
use. Busy students and families do not have time to pour through reams of information about Texas colleges
to figure out which schools are a good fit. The state should develop an application program interface so
that other actors such as education nonprofits can develop effective data sharing tools, tested for usability
and user-experience. Digital resources like mobile apps and online tools can help point students toward
information and pathways that meet their career interests and financial needs.
SeekUT is a strong step in the right direction. The tool provides valuable insights on majors and employment
outcomesatdifferentUniversityofTexassystemcampuses,butunfortunatelystopsattheUTSystem,leaving
out thousands of students at community colleges, private institutions, and other four-year public schools.47
Texas students need a more robust system that includes employment outcome data by field of study at all
Texas institutions.
Finally, a robust information system can provide benefits for students, parents, and counselors. Given the
greater demands placed on counselors under HB 5, an integrated software system could provide counselors
with tools to help students with high school graduation, college transitions, and workforce information. The
right tools could help counselors save time and deal with limited resources.

10
IMPROVE EARLY CAREER JOB SEARCH SKILLS FOR ALL YOUNG JOB SEEKERS
While greater counseling resources and better information about educational and career opportunities
can help students prepare for the workforce, addressing their key concerns about gaining experience and
learning job search skills requires more. Their instincts are right - evidence demonstrates that early work
experience leads to career success down the road.48
While the Texas legislature can help with resources and
information, Texas cities must take the lead in ensuring early job search and internship opportunities starting
in high school. Houston in particular has shown early promise with two initiatives that could benefit young
people.
The first, Turnaround Houston, is in its initial stages. The Mayor recently launched the program with the
stated goal to remove barriers to employment for adults in high poverty communities and those who were
previously incarcerated.49
The campaign rests on a series of resource fairs where individuals can access “ job
training,resumewriting,tattooremoval,socialserviceagencies,educationalinstitutions,[and]counseling....”50
Severalservicesincludingtrainingonimprovingjobsearchskillsandaccesstoeducationopportunitiesmirror
those requested by young people during our jobs tour. The initiative could present valuable opportunities for
struggling young high school students, college students, and those young adults out of school looking for
work.
Too often, however, events like these are not well-targeted to youth. Fairs mainly attended by older workers
may not appeal to young people. Moreover, young workers may need different services and greater support
when trying to land their first jobs. To address this, city officials should create specific outreach efforts in
high schools, colleges, and other community centers that serve young people. As the program expands, the
city should consider having some fairs that are entirely youth focused. If not on campus, the fairs should be in
locations easily accessible by public transportation.
Youth-focused fairs should include resources specific to young people. These could include resume skills for
workers just starting their careers as well as basics on how to interview well. Role playing, long-recognized
to be an effective training tool in a variety of settings,51
could be a key way of helping young people feel
comfortable and confident in real interviews. At their best, these events can help with job search skills and
provide greater awareness of employment, though do not offer the experience young workers crave.
EXPAND OPPORTUNITIES TO GAIN REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE
The second Houston initiative, Hire Houston Youth, offers more promise for on-the-job learning. The Mayor
recentlystartedtheprogramtoprovidesummerjobsforHoustonyouthages16to24.Evidencesuggeststhat
summerjobopportunitiesimproveeducationaloutcomesandreducecrimeamonghighschoolagestudents.52
However, in its first year Hire Houston was quite small, serving only 450 of the over 2,000 applications. Even
the application total is small compared to other summer youth jobs programs around the country in similarly-
sized cities, that will often serve tens of thousands of young adults.53
We propose expanding Hire Houston
Youth as well as implementing a number of additional reforms that would meet young people’s need for
experience and would help lead to quality work down the road. A well-designed youth employment program
has the ability to connect students of all levels, as well as out-of-school youth, with opportunities that build
the career experience and skills that young workers want.

11
Expand Year-Round Employment Opportunities
A strong step forward as city officials increase investment into the Hire Houston Youth program will be
to explore the program’s usefulness in creating opportunities to provide internships, trainings, and jobs
year-round, in addition to summer job placements. Summer jobs programs are often most effective when
connected to year-round training and job opportunities.54
Short stretches of employment for young adults,
while helpful on their own, have the most significant impact on employment rates when coupled with more
sustained training and education opportunities in skilled fields.55
A shift from focusing purely on summer
opportunities to bringing in a new year-round focus has started to happen in a number of cities across the
country. For example, Mayor Eric Garcetti launched a goal of creating 15,000 year-round jobs for young
adults in Los Angeles,56
and Mayor Edwin Lee launched a comprehensive push for summer and year-round
jobs for youth in San Francisco.57
Within Texas, the Dallas Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program has partnered
with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Texas Woman’s University to make high
school interns who participate eligible for medical internships while in college.58
There has also been a recent emphasis on creating year-round opportunities at a federal level. The White
House and the Department of Labor recently announced a $21 million dollar initiative designed to create
expanded summer and year-round opportunities for youth, shifting emphasis from creating jobs for summer
alone to creating jobs for “summer and beyond.”59
Year-round opportunities can be resource-intensive, and a fundamental tradeoff exists between funding
more young adults through shorter terms during the summer and providing year-round opportunities to
fewer participants. In light of this, Houston officials should explore how to facilitate more opportunities for
employers participating in the program to provide year-round opportunities in resource-efficient ways.
OneparticularlyeffectivetoolherewillbeexpandingprogramsliketheDallasMayor’sInternFellowsProgram
that sync summer programs with substantive internships for credit with local colleges and universities. Care
should be taken, however, to ensure that these programs are set up in a way that allows current students also
to prioritize their studies while participating.
Expand Opportunities in Key Industries
In addition, city officials can target the expansion of the Hire Houston Youth program into growth sectors and
high-wageindustriesthatareoftenhardtobreakintoforyoungworkers,butpresentsignificantopportunities
to obtain long-term economic security. By doing so, officials will be able to both target existing opportunities,
but also to know where opportunity is lacking and strengthen relationships in those sectors as well.
As demonstrated in the chart below, the monthly salary in the sector least likely to employ young workers is
triple that of the sector most likely to employ young workers. The health care and social service field employs
approximately a third the number of young people that businesses in the accommodation and food services
field do, and the monthly salary of someone working in health care is almost double that of someone in
accommodation and food services.

12
Table 1. Jobs held by 14-24 year-olds in Houston by Sector
Sector
Employment
Count (Q3
2015) Proportion
Job
Growth
from 2010
Average
Monthly
Earnings
(2014)
Change
since
recession
(adj.)
Accommodation and
Food Services 81,805 23% 36% $1,091 1%
Retail Trade 76,117 21% 14% $1,325 -5%
Administrative and
Support and Waste
Management and
Remediation Services 26,958 8% 19% $1,911 7%
Health Care and Social
Assistance 27,042 8% 15% $1,770 -1%
Construction 22,628 6% 40% $2,968 11%
U.S. Census Bureau. 2014. Quarterly Workforce Indicators Data. Longitudinal-Employer Household Dynamics
Program http://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/#qwi.
As many of the young people we spoke to noted, obtaining paid work does not always mean obtaining work
experience valuable to employers in a student’s chosen career path. Too often, as students pursue internships
and volunteer opportunities, substantive experience comes without a paycheck. Policymakers can act to
make sure young people have access to jobs with good wages and in sectors with substantial regional growth
where they are likely to find work throughout their careers.
EXPAND APPRENTICESHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG TEXANS
Apprenticeships provide a combination of on-the-job training and related classroom instruction in which
workers receive payment while learning a skilled occupation. They provide valuable opportunities to connect
young adults with employer-designed training in competitive middle-skill fields. According to a 2012
study from the Department of Labor, individuals who complete Registered Apprenticeship programs make
$300,000 more over the course of their lifetimes, including benefits, than their peers.60
Nationally, apprenticeships have been been gaining increased interest from the Department of Labor and
from Congress. The DOL recently launched the American Apprenticeship Grants program, which provided
$175 million to expand 46 different apprenticeship program across the country.61
A series of bipartisan
bills, including the Leveraging and Energizing America’s Apprenticeship Programs (LEAP) and Effective
ApprenticeshipstoRebuildNationalSkills(EARNS)Actshavebeenintroducedrecentlyfocusedonexpanding
and improving apprenticeships for today’s youth.62

13
A designated youth apprenticeship program in Texas would help provide young Texans with the chance to
get first-hand experience in their fields of choice. The Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship Program provides
a valuable model here. Since its launch in 1991, the program has grown to serve 2,500 high school juniors
and seniors a year, connecting them with experience in growth fields.63
Launching a similar program in
Texas would provide young adults who are interested in exploring apprenticeship opportunities but not
ready to commit to a full Registered Apprenticeship program with the chance to learn more first-hand.
Texas should also provide resources to businesses looking to launch both Registered Apprenticeship
programs and apprenticeship-like structured training opportunities for young adults. South Carolina’s
Apprenticeship Carolina program has served nearly 11,000 apprentices and worked with more than 670
employers .64
Part of the program’s success is due to the state launching an apprenticeship consulting
program, where state consultants meet with participating employers to give personalized guidance.65
Providing resources to businesses to ensure that they have the institutional knowledge needed to launch
apprenticeship opportunities will help make sure that the needs of both employers and young Texans are
met when creating new training programs.
CREATE MORE WORK-STUDY OPPORTUNITIES TIED TO MEANINGFUL WORK EXPERIENCES
In addition to city-level job opportunities, the state legislature also has a role to play in expanding work
experience for young Texans. The state is one of only 14 nationwide with a state-supported work-study
program for college students.66
The program offers low-income students the opportunity to gain work
experience, earn wages, and maintain flexible schedules around their coursework. Employers and the state
share salary costs.67
Thus state, legislators have an existing policy tool to connect more students with work
experience.
One frequent challenge with work study jobs is that placements are often on campus with little relation to
a student’s career interest. As our roundtable participants noted frequently, a job or internship unrelated
to what you want to do creates barriers to future employment. Some take unpaid internships in addition to
their work study jobs just to get experience in their chosen field. Others simply don’t have the time given
other responsibilities. Ensuring students’ work-study opportunities are tied to meaningful employment
experiences can improve postsecondary outcomes by setting students up for later career success.68
PolicymakersshouldrequireadministratorsofTexasCollegeWork-StudyProgramtotrackimplementation
of the off-campus requirements to ensure student placements reflect their majors and career interests.
Ideally, an annual or biannual report should be provided to legislators, in addition to administrators making
such data publicly available online.
Further, in order for more students to take advantage of the benefits of work study, the program deserves
more investment as a whole. TCWSP is currently much too small to meet student need in Texas. In fact,
there are fewer than 4,000 grantees in the entire state,69
with over 1.5 million students enrolled in degree-
granting postsecondary institutions in Texas.70
At a minimum, the legislature should double investment in
the program to increase the number of students able to access TCWSP.
Even the existence of Texas’s work study program is significant--but to recognize its promise, state leaders
can, and should, do more.

14
CONCLUSION
The Young Texas Works Jobs Tour was an important opportunity to highlight the voices and expertise of
youngpeopleoncriticallyimportantworkforceandeconomicopportunitypolicies.WhileYoungInvincibles’
forthcoming report detailing the many powerful stories shared with us will show that young people at all
levels - in high school, in college, not in school, or currently seeking work - are looking for greater economic
opportunity and deserve adequate investment, it is clear that policymakers can act to quickly build on past
work to leverage high school and postsecondary education settings to effectively reach many young job
seekers. By including young people’s voices and experiences in implementing policy initiatives that connect
young Texans with career pathways and workforce opportunities, policymakers can improve young Texans’
economic opportunity and strengthen the Texas economy.

15
End Notes
1. Data derived from: 2014 Current
Population Survey, US Census Bureau,
accessed December 9 2015, http://
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2. Derek Thompson, “The Incredible
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3. Data derived from “Current Population
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4. Data derived from: 2014 1-yr Ameri-
can Community Survey (ACS) estimates
for the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar
Land, TX Metro Area and Texas
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