Across the country, millions of opportunity youth—young people aged 16–24 not in school or work—have strong potential to contribute to their communities. Equal Measure calculated significant benefits to society if those young people were reconnected to school and jobs.
In 2024, the place-based collaboratives that make up the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions’ Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF) reported reconnecting almost 23,000 opportunity youth to education or employment. That reconnection saved taxpayers $441 million and society more broadly $1.2 billion in one year alone.
The cost of opportunity youth staying disconnected is high: $50 billion a year in social costs for the nearly million opportunity youth in communities served by OYF. If all opportunity youth in the OYF network were reconnected, the country would save more than $950 billion in social costs over a lifetime.
Equal Measure used estimates from “The Economic Value of Opportunity Youth,” converted to 2024 dollars, for components of the cost calculations, such as lost earnings, lower economic growth, lower tax revenues, and higher government spending.
The Benefits of Reconnecting Opportunity Youth to School and Work:
$441 million saved for taxpayers in one year
$1.2 billion saved in social costs in one year
DOWNLOAD THE MEMO
Team Members
- Jennifer Thompson
- Carise Mitch
- Giselle Saleet
- Elyse Villanueva