[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2755 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2755

               To provide funding for summer youth jobs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 13, 2008

  Mrs. Murray introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
               To provide funding for summer youth jobs.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Summer Jobs Stimulus Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. SUMMER YOUTH JOBS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) a temporary $1,000,000,000 investment in summer 
        employment for youth, through the summer youth jobs program 
        supported under this section, will create up to 1,000,000 jobs 
        for economically disadvantaged youth and stimulate local 
        economies;
            (2) research from Northwestern University has shown that 
        every $1 a youth earns has an accelerator effect of $3 on the 
        local economy;
            (3) there is a serious and growing need for employment 
        opportunities for economically disadvantaged youth, as 
        demonstrated by statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
        stating that, in December 2007--
                    (A) the unemployment rate increased to 5 percent, 
                as compared to 4.4 percent in December 2006;
                    (B) the unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds 
                rose to 17 percent, as compared to 13 percent in 
                December 2006; and
                    (C) the unemployment rate for African-American 16- 
                to 19-year-olds increased 5 percent in 1 month, jumping 
                to 34.7 percent, as compared to 20 percent in December 
                2006;
            (4) summer youth jobs help supplement the income of 
        families living in poverty;
            (5) summer youth jobs provide valuable work experience to 
        economically disadvantaged youth;
            (6) often, the summer jobs provided through the program are 
        an economically disadvantaged youth's introduction to the world 
        of work;
            (7) according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at 
        Northeastern University, early work experience is a very 
        powerful predictor of success and earnings in the labor market, 
        and early work experiences raises earnings over a lifetime by 
        10 to 20 percent;
            (8) participation in a summer youth jobs program can 
        contribute to a reduction in criminal and high-risk behavior 
        for youth; and
            (9)(A) summer youth job programs benefit both youth and 
        communities when designed around principles that promote 
        mutually beneficial programs;
            (B) youth benefit from summer youth jobs that provide them 
        with work readiness skills and that help them make the 
        connection between responsibility on the job and success in 
        adulthood; and
            (C) communities benefit when youth are engaged productively 
        during the summer, providing much-needed services that meet 
        real community needs.
    (b) Appropriations.--Out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise 
appropriated, and in addition to any funds appropriated under any 
provision of Federal law other than this section, there is appropriated 
to the Secretary of Labor for youth activities under the Workforce 
Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2801 et seq.), $1,000,000,000, which 
shall be available for the period of April 1, 2008 through December 31, 
2008, under the conditions described in subsection (c).
    (c) Conditions.--
            (1) Use of funds.--The funds appropriated under subsection 
        (b) shall be used for summer employment opportunities referred 
        to in section 129(c)(2)(C) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 
        2854(c)(2)(C)).
            (2) Limitation.--Such funds shall be distributed in 
        accordance with sections 127 and 128 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 
        2852, 2853), except that no portion of such funds shall be 
        reserved to carry out 128(a) or 169 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 
        2853(a), 2914).
            (3) Measure of effectiveness.--The effectiveness of the 
        activities carried out with such funds shall be measured, under 
        section 136 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 2871), only with performance 
        measures based on the core indicators of performance described 
        in section 136(b)(2)(A)(ii)(I) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 
        2871(b)(2)(A)(ii)(I)).
                                 <all>