Testimony originally delivered on March 27, 2026
Chairperson Bonds and members of the committee, and committee staff, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Shira Markoff, and I am the Director of Economic Policy at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI). DCFPI is a non-profit organization that shapes racially-just tax, budget, and policy decisions by centering Black and brown communities in our research and analysis, community partnerships, and advocacy efforts to advance an antiracist, equitable future.
I’m here today to testify about two bills, Pathways to Prosperity for Young Parents Pilot Amendment Act of 2025 and DC Young Adults Corps Act of 2025. Both bills aim to increase and improve employment opportunities for District youth and young adults early in their working lives. Black youth in DC face barriers to employment due to systemic racism, and these early career disadvantages are likely to result in lower wages and poorer job quality throughout their careers. That’s why DCFPI is pleased to see the Council focusing on how the District can better support young workers.
In today’s testimony, I will discuss:
- How structural racism creates barriers for young Black individuals in obtaining and maintaining employment;
- What DCFPI learned from our research on a proposed youth jobs guarantee and how that research can inform the design of youth-focused workforce programs; and
- The aspects of the proposed bills that align with our research on youth workforce programs and why the wraparound supports in the proposed programs need to be strengthened to serve youth with the most barriers to employment.
Structural Racism Creates Barriers for Young Black Workers Trying to Start Their Careers
Young workers face more challenges to obtaining employment than prime age workers stemming from their comparatively limited employment experience, the need for additional education or credentials, and increased vulnerability to labor market downturns. Nearly half of all civilian jobs required prior work experience, nearly 20 percent of civilian jobs required a Bachelor’s degree, and 45 percent required credentials such as a certification or license in national surveys in 2022 and 2023 on occupational requirements by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.[1].,[2]. Young workers who find employment may also struggle to maintain it, because they are still developing the skills and capabilities needed for long-term labor market success.[3].
For Black youth, structural racism compounds these employment challenges. Unjust and inequitable policies and practices, rooted in racism, have resulted in a greater likelihood that young Black DC residents experience poverty, homelessness, community-level violence, the foster care system, and the carceral system. All these factors are significant barriers to employment. As a result, Black youth in DC have lower labor force participation than white youth. On average from 2022 to 2024, 51 percent of District Black youth aged 16 to 24 participated in the labor market compared to 62 percent of white youth (Figure 1).[4].
Black youth also experience much higher unemployment, with an unemployment rate for Black youth of 18.4 percent on average for 2022 to 2024—five times higher than for white youth (3.7 percent).[5]. This official youth unemployment rate likely underestimates the number of young people who want to work or who are structurally excluded from the labor market, because official unemployment data only captures job seekers who have searched for work in the last four weeks.[6]. The unemployment disparities are chronic. Over the last decade, the average Black youth unemployment rate never dropped below 18 percent and was as high as nearly 33 percent in the wake of the Great Recession (2011 to 2013). Comparatively, unemployment for young white workers in DC has hovered between just 3.2 percent to 5.2 percent.[7].
Figure 1.
The disadvantages Black youth experience in their early careers are likely to reverberate in the form of lower wages and poorer job quality throughout their working lives. For each week that a young person is unemployed from ages 20 to 23, their job quality at age 29 is reduced, according to research.[8]. Another study found that experiencing unemployment between the ages of 16 and 23—especially as the period of unemployment grows longer—can lead to reductions in wages that are still evident when workers are in their 30s and even early 40s.[9].
The fiscal and social costs of chronic youth unemployment and disconnection are significant. For example, youth disconnection from work or school is associated with increased rates of substance use, worse health outcomes, and increased criminal activity.[10]. These and other negative outcomes translate into decreased tax revenue and increased taxpayer costs tied to the provision of health care, basic assistance, and criminal legal system costs.[11]. The full cost of youth disconnection to the economy, which takes into account workers’ lost wages and lost productivity, among other factors, has been estimated by one study at $55,047 annually, per disconnected young person until age 25 and $777,616 across the lifespan (in 2026 dollars).[12].
The District currently has youth-focused job programs, including the Marion Barry Summer Youth Employment Program and a smaller career internship program run by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. However, the data on racial disparities in youth employment indicate that these current programs are not sufficient to prepare Black young adults for success in DC’s labor market. The District needs new, comprehensive approaches that more directly address the barriers many young residents face to employment.
Young People Facing the Most Barriers to Employment Benefit from Structured, Supportive Workforce Programs
To understand the challenges young people in DC face around employment and to help shape a workforce program that better serves youth, DCFPI partnered with DC Action in 2023 to conduct focus groups with DC youth. Facilitators asked participants about their career goals, finding employment in DC, the harms of unemployment, and how a job guarantee program should be designed to meet their needs and interests. Major findings from the focus group include:
- Young people want to be business owners, doctors, and lawyers, but need a range of supports and services to mitigate barriers and help them achieve their goals.
- Involuntary unemployment harms young workers and creates cycles of disconnection from work.
- Young people want jobs that align with their interests, skills, and goals, and would benefit from working with employers who are equipped to support youth.
- Youth are interested in well-paid, year-round work experiences that support their career trajectory, and feel existing public workforce offerings fall short.[13].
Based on the findings from these focus groups and additional research on workforce programs for youth, DCFPI developed a proposal for a youth jobs guarantee for the District designed to eliminate involuntary unemployment among eligible young workers. The program would connect young workers to a meaningful, high-quality guaranteed job and immediate earned income while ensuring greater program success through robust services and supports. The youth jobs guarantee would focus on young people who are unemployed and experiencing economic hardship, with priority for those facing the most significant barriers to work. This group includes pregnant or parenting youth, young people experiencing homelessness, young people who have left school without a high school diploma or GED, justice-involved youth, and youth within or aging out of the foster care system.
The youth jobs guarantee addresses barriers faced by young workers, especially Black youth, through:
- Providing at least one year of paid work and work-related activities with an optional one-year re-enrollment for youth with more barriers to employment;
- Full subsidization of employment over the program period to help ensure that employer partners don’t reject young workers who face the most significant structural barriers;
- Offering young people a stable, well-paid, high-quality experience that, at a minimum, pays the District’s prevailing minimum wage and guarantees DC worker benefits such as paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave;
- Offering a range of employment options with the public sector, the non-profit sector, and the for-profit sector that align with young workers’ skills, interests, and career goals; and
- Most importantly, providing wraparound services and supports to mitigate structural barriers to employment and increase success within and beyond the program.
Both Bills Incorporate Some Elements of the Youth Jobs Guarantee But Need Stronger Wraparound Supports
Both the DC Young Adults Job Corps and the Pathways to Prosperity bills incorporate a number of provisions that our research shows are important for youth workforce programs. Both programs provide up to a year of employment. Research on subsidized employment and transitional jobs programs show that longer programs are more likely to lead to better employment and earnings outcomes over the medium- and long-term.[14]. In both programs, participants also earn at least the District’s minimum wage—a significant improvement over the below minimum wage paid to many participants in the Marion Barry Summer Youth Employment Program.[15].
The Pathways to Prosperity for Young Parents Pilot Act uses a subsidized employment approach to connect young parents—who face many obstacles to employment—with workforce opportunities. The pilot would provide a 50 percent wage subsidy to employers to hire young parents for up to 40 hours per week and keep them employed for at least one year. Research shows that subsidized employment programs, in which the government or another entity temporarily subsidizes some or all of an individual’s wages, can be an effective tool in connecting individuals to work.[16].
The DC Young Adults Job Corps Act would create a paid service year for District youth ages 17 to 24 to help them gain work experience, support their communities, and build job skills. Similar to the youth jobs guarantee, this program would prioritize individuals with barriers to employment and provide training and mentorship opportunities. The program would also aim to place participants in roles aligning with their interests and skills.
While both pieces of legislation have areas of alignment with the youth jobs guarantee, both do not have requirements around providing the wraparound services needed for a successful program serving youth with significant employment barriers. In both cases, the legislation makes the provision of wraparound supports optional, rather than mandating that these services be built into the program. For example, section 7(e) of the DC Young Adults Job Corps Act states that the Department of Employment Services (DOES) “may provide or support additional benefits or allowances for participants, including transportation assistance, supportive services, and other participants supports.” Research shows that subsidized employment programs with wraparound services are best positioned to improve employment rates and earnings.[17]. This is particularly true for young adults facing many barriers to employment for whom wraparound services are not a nice-to-have but rather essential to their participation and success in the program.
Supports and services provided through these programs should be responsive to each young person’s needs and interests, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Examples of services that should be available include:
- Transportation supports such as WMATA passes or gas cards;
- Affordable and reliable child care, including financial support to cover the cost of sliding scale fees for day care;
- Housing supports, including financial support to mitigate rent burden as well as housing search assistance, connections to vouchers, roommate identification, and more;
- Direct cash to help cover the cost of household financial emergencies or solve other barriers to work;
- Work uniforms, supplies, or equipment necessary for workplace success;
- Financial capability supports, such as budgeting support, banking access, credit repair, and tax filing assistance;
- Mental and behavioral health supports, to connect young workers with age-appropriate and culturally competent care; and
- Education and training opportunities, including one-time financial support to partially cover the cost of pursuing educational or training opportunities.
In closing, DCFPI supports the Council’s focus on expanding and improving workforce programs that focus on youth with barriers to employment. I urge the Council to incorporate lessons from the youth jobs guarantee research and ensure that the proposed programs incorporate robust wraparound supports that mitigate the structural barriers to employment young people face. Finally, I ask the Council to consider supporting a youth jobs guarantee—a comprehensive approach to youth workforce development that would eliminate involuntary unemployment among young workers and connect them with a meaningful, high-quality guaranteed job. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I am happy to take questions.
