Men and women in their late teens and early 20s are struggling, but some are especially hard hit

According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, the unemployment rate in 2010 among high-school dropouts between ages 16 and 24 was 29% — up from 17.7% in 2000 and seven points higher than that of their peers who finished high school but didn't go on to college. The problem is particularly acute among Hispanics and African-Americans. Several studies have found that only about 50% of black and Hispanic students graduate from high school, compared with 75% of white students. Up to 40% of the young people in these communities qualify as "disconnected youth," the term for young adults who are neither in school nor working, says David Dodson, president of MDC Inc., a research organization in Durham, N.C. "They've given up hope," says Phillip Jackson, executive director of Chicago's Black Star Project, which helps African-American youth stay in school. He estimates that 75% to 80% of the young black men in Chicago are jobless.