"Wages and working conditions for youth in the low-end service sector are notoriously dismal. Recent attempts to use collective action to improve these conditions, however, have been limited in number and effectiveness. Addressing the situation requires attention to many of the same issues that concern labor overall. But sooner or later, youth labor organizing must also deal with the "higher education question"-indeed, it is the engagement with higher education that helps define young workers as a distinctive group in the first place. The question is this: What should a social and economic justice movement demand of higher education? Or, what do we need from higher education to move toward a just society? Until we have a clear answer, it is likely that we will continue to struggle to understand and address the problem of low-wage youth employment."

Support: Paper