No experience, no college degree, no job.

That's the story for one of every three new high school graduates in the Sacramento region not attending college, according to census figures released today.

The 33 percent unemployment rate among these 18- and 19-year-olds is nearly triple the regionwide overall unemployment rate of 12 percent. That's no coincidence, since many desperate adults now want the same jobs they do.

Low-skill jobs in areas such as retail sales and fast food were cut fast during the recession, creating more competition for fewer slots. Employers often hire someone with a dependable job record over a fresh-faced kid, even for relatively simple work.

"I tell my kids all the time, 'You are competing with adults with master's degrees, with adults who have 15 years' job experience,' " said Kareem Clark, a job-placement specialist who works with youths at the Sacramento Urban League.

It has long been hard for new high school graduates to find work – but not this hard. As recently as 2007, the local unemployment rate among new graduates not in college was 20 percent. Two decades ago, when fewer jobs required a college degree, the rate was around 10 percent.

Tommy Lo, a recent graduate of Rio Cazadero High in south Sacramento, is quickly learning such days are long past. He applied for a job at Wal-Mart but got the cold shoulder, an experience that is growing familiar.

"I want a job," he said. "I've applied, but no calls."

Lo is thinking about moving to Oklahoma, where his cousin lives. California's unemployment rate is about twice as high as Oklahoma's.

If there's any consolation for Lo, his prospects here are still better than the prospects of teens without a high school diploma. The local unemployment rate among 16- to 19-year-old high school dropouts is about 50 percent.

Not counted in those unemployment figures are "idle" teens – those who aren't in school or college, and who aren't even bothering to look for jobs. More than 5,500 Sacramento-area teens fall into that category.

"There are some youth who I haven't seen in a couple of months," said Vidal Gonzalez, a job specialist at La Familia in south Sacramento, fearing that some of his former charges are making money through crime. "They see the underground economy as a means of support."

Gonzalez and the Urban League's Clark help teens find jobs using money from the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency, or SETA, a joint effort of the city and county of Sacramento. They have seen an increased demand for services, which include temporarily paying young workers' salaries as a sort of tryout until their employers keep them on staff.

SETA provides intensive help to about 1,100 young adults each year, and counseling to another 8,000. The agency could serve more, said Christine Welsh, SETA's workforce development manager, if it had the funding.

Lately, it has been more of a struggle to help clients find even temporary work, particularly at government agencies, which are laying off hundreds of employees.

"They can't lay someone off and then hire one of our teens," Welsh said.

Welsh expects her programs, mostly funded by the federal government, to face cuts in the near future, as well.

The census figures, which cover 2010, do contain some good news about teens. Perhaps because their job prospects are slim, more local high school graduates are enrolling in college, particularly two-year schools, than were before the recession.

About 109,000 local residents ages 18 to 24 attended college in 2010, up by 12,000 from 2007.

The local unemployment rate among college graduates with at least a bachelor's degree is about 5 percent.

Cheenou Thao, a 17-year-old senior at Sacramento's Grant High School, has known for a while that he would pursue college, and his limited recent experience in the job market did nothing to change his mind.

He applied to In-N-Out Burger, Taco Bell and McDonald's in the last few weeks, but has heard nothing.

"I was just hoping for the call," Thao said.

His friend Maixee Lor, also a Grant senior, decided she would take a shot at getting a job when McDonald's interviewed thousands of local residents in a single day a few weeks back.

"They said I had a chance, but they never called me back," she said.

Thao and Lor sat together this week at an Urban League workshop for high school students and grads considering community college, led by Jeri Marshall, outreach specialist for American River College.

Marshall was optimistic about the job prospects of anyone attending college. But he worries that government cuts will push high school graduates into the brutal job market, even if they want to pursue a college degree.

"Enrollment is up," he said. "But we are cutting classes."

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