Pasadena, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2011 -- The Department of Labor is trying to create jobs for young people this summer by working with the private sector to create around 100,000 summer jobs.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis urged private businesses to hire young workers, aged 16 to 24, this summer. The Labor department has started a "Summer Jobs USA -- Make a Commitment" campaign as a voluntary effort to get the private sector to hire young people.

The recession has hit this age group hard, with 19.1 percent of them unemployed in July 2010. The hard employment scenario is expected to continue for this demographic group this summer as well. The main reason is the lack of the economic stimulus money that was made available to local and state governments last summer. The stimulus funds allowed cities and counties to create youth-oriented jobs such as lifeguards and in recreation.

The main companies who have so far pledged support are Wells Fargo & Co., UPS, Qwest Communications, General Dynamics, Research in Motion and Toyota North America. Wells Fargo has said that the bank usually hires for summer and this time, it is hiring around 1,000 college and MBA students.

InternshipCrossing, a job aggregator website focusing only on internships has so far been able to locate around 25,000 internships. The internships include jobs in marketing and sales, public relations, as well as in healthcare and technical fields.