YOUTH JOB SEARCH AND EMPLOYMENT: YOUTH AND EMPLOYMENT PERSPECTIVES. Jimilee Kalu and mentor, Dr. Charles Betsey, Department of Economics Unemployment among black teens is extremely high. Many studies investigating the cause of black youth unemployment have focused on the difficulties people face obtaining and keeping employment. Among the difficulties identified are the following: shifting geographical location of jobs away from central cities to suburban and exuban locations; lack of adequate skills obtained in school, including language, reading, and computation skills; racial and ethnic discrimination in hiring; unrealistic expectations concerning rates of pay and hiring; working conditions and promotions possibilities; lack of reliable information about jobs openings and requirements; reliance on less productive job search techniques. The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature of the process that youths use to find employment. This study will explore issues affecting the job-finding process from both employers and youths and focus group interviews of youths and focus group interviews of employers will be conducted. Very limited preliminary result of out-of-school youth interviews will be discussed. The primary outcome of this study is expected to produce a better understanding of inner city youths' views of the requirements of the labor market and the corresponding views of employers in the markets.			Jimilee Kalu is a psychology major with a minor in English literature. After graduation, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. in psychology. She would like to design and implement program interventions and evaluate existing programs. Kalu has been accepted at the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia graduate schools. She has interned under the supervsion of a community psychologist where she learned how to conduct and draft a program evaluation and to seek funding for program execution. She has received tranning in examining susceptibility to interpersonal stress which blossomed into an interest in learning about coping and stress responses in African Americans. She is currently a research assistant in the Department of Psychology where she is exploring African American stress response, cultural orientation and health status. McNair Alumni