The "Helping to Encourage Real Opportunities (HERO) for Youth Act of 2025" modifies and extends the Work Opportunity Credit to encourage the employment of summer youth and disconnected youth by expanding eligibility and increasing the credit amount.
Robin Kelly
Representative
IL-2
The "Helping to Encourage Real Opportunities (HERO) for Youth Act of 2025" modifies and extends the Work Opportunity Credit to encourage the employment of young individuals. It expands the credit for summer youth to include year-round employment and increases the credit amount. The bill also creates a new credit for "disconnected youth" who face significant barriers to employment due to lack of education, skills, or foster care history. These changes aim to provide businesses with incentives to hire and train young people, helping them gain valuable work experience and skills.
HERO Act Expands Work Opportunity Tax Credit for Year-Round Youth Employment, Adds Focus on 'Disconnected Youth'
The 'Helping to Encourage Real Opportunities (HERO) for Youth Act of 2025' aims to give more young people a foothold in the job market by tweaking and extending the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC). This bill essentially offers businesses a tax break for hiring specific groups of young workers, applying to individuals who start work after the bill becomes law.
Beyond Summer Gigs: Year-Round Support
Previously, the WOTC often focused on summer youth employment. The HERO Act changes that game. It expands the credit to cover young people hired any time of the year, not just during summer break. It also specifically allows the credit for youth employees who work no more than 20 hours per week between September 16th and April 30th, provided they are regularly attending high school. Think about a local hardware store hiring a student for after-school shifts during the fall and winter – under this bill, that could now qualify the business for a tax credit, incentivizing them to offer those kinds of opportunities.
Reaching Out: The 'Disconnected Youth' Credit
A significant addition is a new credit category for hiring 'disconnected youth'. This targets individuals aged 16 to 25 who face steeper climbs into the workforce. The bill defines this group as young people who haven't regularly attended school or held a job in the six months before being hired, lack sufficient basic skills for ready employment, or (for those aged 16-21) were in foster care within the year before hiring. This aims to create pathways for young adults who might otherwise be overlooked, like someone who left high school early and struggled to find stable work, or a young person aging out of the foster care system. While the goal is clear, terms like 'sufficient basic skills' might require further clarification during implementation to ensure consistent application.
The Bottom Line: Incentives and Opportunities
Ultimately, this bill uses the tax code to encourage businesses to invest in young workers, especially those needing an extra boost. By expanding the existing credit and adding the 'disconnected youth' category, it aims to open more doors for year-round work experience and skill development. For businesses, it potentially lowers the cost of hiring and training young talent. For young people, particularly those facing barriers defined in the bill, it could mean more chances to gain experience and build a career foundation.