Summary

In a survey of the costs related to the youth unemployment problem, GAO developed a comprehensive outline for the use in planning work on each of the major aspects of the problem to determine where significant difficulties might arise.

GAO found that it was necessary to make a series of assumptions concerning who needs help, how they can be helped, and the best way to provide that help before an estimation of program costs could be attempted. GAO also found that the effectiveness of most current programs was questioned by both critics and proponents, and that reliable estimates of who needs what kinds of help were generally based on assumptions about measures of need, rather than on objective criteria linked to specific treatment. GAO proposed developing a good estimate of the need for employment and training services which need to be provided without regard to the effectiveness of specific programs. Although the social costs associated with youth unemployment have been discussed, very little research has been done to link the range of social costs of crime, mental illness, and welfare costs to the casual factor of unemployment in a quantitative way. GAO suggests that it summarize the available knowledge of the social costs of youth unemployment, provide order of magnitude cost estimates in feasible areas, and attempt to describe how available information on social costs can be used in making decisions.