Local high school graduates face tough transition into job market.

Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard

At 20, Stephanie Horn is a bit older than the hundreds of high school students who flocked to the Youth Career Fair at the Lane County Fairgrounds on Thursday.

And since graduating from Willamette High School in Eugene in 2002, Horn knows firsthand how hard it is to find a decent job with just a high school diploma in hand. She has worked a string of restaurant jobs, done telemarketing and even delivered auto parts.

"I've had all those entry-level jobs, and you can't live on that," Horn said.

Now Horn, who attended workshops and visited with employers at the career fair, has her eye on a health care career. She recently began a nine-week medical occupations course at the Riverfront School, which is run by Looking Glass, a local nonprofit agency. When the course is over, Horn said, she hopes to find work in the medical field or to take more training at Lane Community College.

The job market for fresh high school graduates is a daunting place.

Nationally, the jobless rate for teenagers is three times higher than for adults overall. In January, the jobless rate for 16- to 19-year-olds was 16.7 percent, compared with 5.6 percent overall, said Brian Rooney, a labor economist with the Oregon Employment Department.

In Lane County, a spate of layoffs has worsened the problem for teenagers. The closure of two Kmarts, the Emporium retail chain and Sony's compact disc plant in Springfield, left Lane County with 1,200 fewer jobs in 2003, compared with a year earlier, Rooney said.

When unemployment spikes, recent high-school graduates get edged out of entry-level jobs because workers with more experience are willing to take jobs for which they're overqualified, he said.

But prospects for recent local high school graduates should look up as the national economy improves, he said.

RV manufacturing and printing and publishing are expected to rebound, he said. And more jobs should open up in construction, health services, and finance and real estate in the next few years, Rooney said.

About 70 percent of Oregon's graduating high school seniors go directly on to college, said Bob Kieran, director of institutional research for the Oregon University System.

Jacob Melear, a student at the career fair, said he hopes to attend the University of Oregon or Lane Community College.

He strode into the mock-interview room wearing a pressed blue dress shirt, dark slacks and a striped tie. Melear wants to become an architect and he was interviewed by Karen Edmonds, LCC's high school and community relations coordinator. Edmonds acted the role of owner of an architecture firm.

Edmonds gave Melear high marks for appearance, confidence and career goals.

The Youth Career Fair, now in its ninth year, attracts hundreds of employers and thousands of students throughout Lane County. It is sponsored by a host of groups, including the Lane Business Education Compact, a nonprofit alliance that links businesses to educational institutions.

CAPTION(S):

High school students participate in a mock interview exercise at the Youth Career Fair at the Lane County Fairgrounds on Thursday. Nationally, jobless rates for teens are three times higher than those for adults.