Interviews with young workers, their parents, and their employers in seven communities (Birmingham, Alabama; Salinas, California; Esterville, Milford, and Terril, Iowa; Lawrence, Massachusetts; and Detroit, Michigan) show that today's young workers--the 20 million 16- to 24-year-olds who do not plan to go to college--do not receive the support they need to build a financially secure future for themselves, their families, or society. As high-paying, low-skill jobs in manufacturing are replaced with low-paying, higher-skill jobs in the service sector, young people must perform more complicated tasks more efficiently and flexibly for less reward. Working youth comprise more than half their age group and one-sixth of U.S. workers. About three-fourths of all U.S. youth work for pay. Working young people are struggling against odds not faced by their parents or older siblings. Among the common themes revealed in the interviews across communities are that: (1) traditional networks for finding jobs no longer exist; (2) in many cases, jobs in growth industries are not growing fast enough to replace stable, good-paying manufacturing jobs that do not require advanced training; (3) in some cases, low wages become an incentive for young mothers to stay on welfare; and (4) much of the available job training is provided by community organizations that suffer from reduced federal funding, unstable local support, and high employee turnover, and can serve only a small portion of those who need their services. (CML)