From Bob Herbert’s As Jobless Rate Soars, Young People Are Left to Drift: “Just a little bit of help to the millions of youngsters trying to get their first tentative foothold in that economy should not be too much to ask. It’s not as if these kids don’t want to work. Many of them search and search until they finally become discouraged. The summer job market, which has long been an important first step in preparing teenagers for the world of work, is shaping up this year as the weakest in more than half a century… Now, with the overall economy deteriorating, the situation for poorly educated young people will only grow worse.”