The 2016 United States presidential elections are just around the corner for the candidates to the Oval Office. The runners for the Democratic and Republican parties are starting to present their candidacies to the primary elections. As can be expected, each one is proposing a range of measures that they consider essential for the future of the nation.
One of them is Senator Bernie Sanders. He openly declares himself to be a social democrat but, due to the two party system in the United States, he has links to the Democratic Party. Last week, he stated that unemployment among young Americans leaving College and High School is a “national tragedy”. Citing a study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute for the Senator, youth unemployment data have worsened since the last elections according to the conclusions of the report.
High School graduates aged 17 to 20 who are unemployed:
–White (33.8%)
–African Americans (51.3%)
–Hispanic (36.1% ).
On the other hand, young people aged 21 to 24 who have just completed their College studies:
–White (12.9%)
–African Americans (23.0%)
–Hispanic (22.4% ).
Regarding the reasons for these unemployment figures, Sanders emphasized the situation of young African-Americans, referring to the incarceration of many of them. According to Sanders, 1 out of every 3 African Americans in the age group mentioned has been in jail. Among Hispanic people, the figures are not so high but they are, however, striking: 1 out of every 6. Among white people, the rate is 1 out of every 17.
For Senator Sanders, engaging young people in the economy is a priority and he said that we cannot turn our backs on an entire generation of Americans. With this in view, Sanders and the Republican congressman John Conyers introduced a bill last week seeking to provide federal states and local councils with 5.5 billion USD to promote access to the labour market for 1 million young people aged 16 to 24.
In this sense, on his campaign website, Sanders published an emotional article indicating that Martin Luther King’s dream is not being realised. Senator Sanders, who was one of the thousands of demonstrators who heard Dr King make that wonderful ‘I have a dream’ speech, believes it is time to give to young Americans the future they deserve.
