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Justin Mulkey of Church Hill started looking for a job at the end of April after returning from a Job Corps assignment in Kentucky.

At age 18, he’s applied to various places, from retail stores and fast-food restaurants to a senior citizen housing development.

And he’s still waiting to hear word one.

“I’ll work at anything as long as it pays,” said Mulkey, who said he eventually wants to become a physical therapist. “I’d like to go to college or tech school, either one, as long as I can do what I want to do. But I need a job now.”

Mulkey is one of thousands of young people now searching for a job in this country.

And according to the Economic Policy Institute, it won’t be an easy task.

The EPI recently issued a briefing paper titled “The Class of 2010: Economic Prospects for Young Adults in the Recession.”

“For the class of 2010, it will be one of the worst years to graduate high school or college since at least 1983 and possibly the worst since the end of World War II,” the EPI states.

The briefing said that unemployment rates for both college graduates and non-graduates younger than 25 are nearly double their pre-recession levels.

Between April 2009 and March 2010, the unemployment rate averaged 22.5 percent for high school graduates not enrolled in post-secondary education, the EPI report shows.

That’s more than double the national unemployment rate.

In April this year, the nationwide jobless rate stood at 9.9 percent, while the unemployment rate in Tennessee was 10.5 percent, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development.

The EPI report shows that since the start of the recession, the youth labor force has contracted by 1.1 million workers.

Steve Vinsant, manager of the Tennessee Career Center in Kingsport, said employers typically have their pick of the most experienced workers in any economic downturn.

“And with the number of unemployed that have entered our labor market, it’s an employer’s market, so they’re able to pick the most qualified,” Vinsant said.

He said employers are even taking additional applications of experienced workers to fill potential job openings down the road.

“There’s a lot of cream out there if you know what I mean. There’s a lot of individuals with a lot of good skills,” Vinsant said.

But that doesn’t mean younger workers without as much experience don’t have a shot at getting a job.

Vinsant said many recent high school and college graduates bring more technical computer skills to the table than their older counterparts because they’ve grown up with computers and are comfortable with them.

Plus, young people are oftentimes more mobile and free to take jobs in other locations, without family responsibilities that might tie some older workers to a certain location.

And young people shouldn’t discount their previous experiences. Vinsant said many young people have done various jobs, such as babysitting and mowing lawns. However, they may not include those jobs on their resumes.

“But it is training that could transfer over to the work force, so that’s what they have to sell,” Vinsant said.

He said references are important, and young people should include as references the people for whom they did babysitting, lawn mowing, and other chores.

“And teachers are excellent references as far as the quality of work and the type of work that the individual did in school,” Vinsant said.

He said good school attendance can also be a plus. “That shows the individual is going to show up for work and be on time,” he said.

Vinsant said young people should also list on their resumes any civic groups, clubs and organizations in which they’ve participated.

“Those are some of the things that they have to pull out and bring forward into their job interviews,” Vinsant said.

Last year, nearly 13,500 young people in Tennessee were put to work through the Summer Youth Program, funded by nearly $25 million in the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, or federal stimulus plan.

Locally, the program employed more than 500 people and paid out more than $850,000 in direct wages to youths ages 16 to 24.

Jeff Hentschel, with the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development, said last year’s stimulus money allowed the state to expand its help for young job seekers.

“The reality is, that was a huge expansion of what we were able to do. And without additional funding, that program will be very small,” Hentschel said.

Congress is now considering legislation that would provide $1 billion to support more than 300,000 jobs for youths age 14 to 24 through summer employment programs this year.

If federal funding is approved, it would be channeled through the states’ workforce development organizations, such as the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development.

For more information, visit www.state.tn.us/labor-wfd/, which gives advice for those seeking jobs. The Web site includes a section specifically for young people searching for a job, at www.tn.gov/labor-wfd/youth/

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