Teens Chasing Scarce U.S. Jobs Boosted by State Programs As states raise their minimum wages, local officials are grappling with how to make their young populations less costly and more qualified to hire. Nationwide, unemployment for those ages 16 to 19 was 22.2 percent in October, compared with 7.3 percent for the overall population, according to Labor Department data. “This has been the worst decade for teenage employment […]