Thanks to the summer program, said Michael Pearson, president of Union Packaging, of Yeadon, "when these youth enter the workforce for real, they'll have a concept of being on time, that you can't take off when you want."
Pearson said continuing to expand youth employment was critical for the region's future. "There are segments of the metro Philadelphia community where it may have two or three generations since anyone in the family had a real job."
If young people are not drawn out of impoverished backgrounds and into the workforce, they will become a burden on the region, making it less competitive and more violent, warned Pearson and other executives interviewed for this article.
The summer jobs are an important first step, said Melissa J. Orner, senior vice president of the youth network. "You can't imagine something you haven't seen. If you can't imagine a job, you cannot want it," she said.
Manij Battle-Whiteman, 16, spent the summer at Comcast Corp., working on the team that processes commissions to stores that sell the company's cable television and other services.
"I've learned to look over my work twice. I am part of a team. If my work isn't absolutely correct, money goes to where it is not supposed to be and my teammates have to work harder," Battle-Whiteman said. He aspires to go to college and become a chemical engineer.
Sanithia Scales, 18, spent "a busy summer" working for KPMG L.L.P., the big accounting and management-consulting firm, scanning client documents into a computer, among other things. Working with others improved her communications skills, which she said would help her study theater in college and become an actress.
