In early 1984, county and area Extension staff conceived a plan to initiate a partnership between several groups to address the issue of high unemployment among area youth. Southeast Kansas, like other parts of the Midwest farm belt, has been particularly hard hit by the crises in agriculture. Five of those bank failures were in southeast Kansas. In Neosho County, for example, unemployment is in two digits and remains nearly double the state level. Job Obstacles for Youth As in other rural counties, employment opportunities for young people in Neosho County, even in good economic times, are already quite limited.
Teens confront a number of obstacles when they try to find part-time and summer employment.
Transportation is often a major problem because the travel distances to available jobs are often substantial. Legal restrictions prohibit young people from working in many of our large industries in which machinery is involved. In addition, many of our town businesses are small family operations and employ few outside people. Moreover, unlike larger metropolitan areas, there aren't many fast-food outlets where young people can earn additional income for themselves or supplement the family's farm income. Finally, given the choice, many employers prefer to hire unemployed adults over young people because of the adults' greater need, maturity, reliability, previous work experience, and ability to work more hours.