The trend sees big companies such as CVS Health, State Street, and American Express evolving small hiring programs for opportunity youth, driven by corporate social responsibility, into core business strategy (see our study “Hidden Talent: How Smart Companies Are Tapping into Unemployed Youth”). The strategy offers them a rare trifecta: It’s good for the company, youth, and society. Consider two men with the same education, place of residence, and family background. If one spends a year unemployed before the age of 23, 10 years later he can expect to earn 23% less than the other. For women, the spread 10 years out is 16%. Meanwhile, the alternative — housing subsidies, unemployment insurance, health care subsidies, even incarceration costs — generate huge social costs.