Chicago’s youth employment program begins this week, with more than 20,000 young people between ages 14 and 24 starting jobs and internships at Chicago Parks, the Police Department, and even the Chicago Cubs.

But the program is struggling to bounce back to its pre-pandemic scale, and tens of thousands of young people who applied do not have a slot in the program.

That’s as Mayor Brandon Johnson embarks on his first summer as mayor after he promised in his campaign to double the number of young people hired this summer.

Instead of the 20,000 more jobs that would have required, the city was able to identify just 2,000 more spots compared to last summer.

Nonetheless, the Johnson administration is counting the small expansion as a significant step, saying they expect the program to grow gradually under the Johnson administration.

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“We came into office a matter of weeks ago and what we’ve really tried to do is call on everyone to do what they can immediately. So we are talking about a couple thousand more than last summer,” said Jen Johnson, the city’s deputy mayor of education, youth and human services. “This is just the beginning though … so I expect to see ongoing growth.”

The One Summer Chicago program is one of the biggest in the country, officials said Monday. But it has struggled in recent years to keep up with demand of kids wanting jobs and has yet to bounce back to 2019 numbers.

In 2019, the city hired 31,552 young people between the ages of 14 and 24 — which was nearly 100% of the people who applied. The program is now about a third smaller — with around 22,500 positions offered so far this year.

And the gap between jobs and applicants has grown significantly since 2019. Around 46,000 people applied this year, Johnson said last week — approximately double the number of jobs available.

In a press release after the event, the mayor’s office said they anticipate hiring “close to over” 24,000 people this summer.

Without providing more detail, Johnson said Monday that Chicagoans can expect his forthcoming, inaugural budget to include a commitment to growing the program. He has also called on corporations to step up.

“I’m grateful that we have a number of corporations that have responded to the call, but we certainly need more,” Johnson said at an unrelated news conference last week. On Monday, as he launched the program, Johnson said “no one has said no” and “everyone is saying ‘What can we do to help?’ ” but that the “need is tremendous.”

Brad Tietz with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce said hiring young people isn’t “as easy as it might be” for some businesses compared to others, but said he’s encouraged by the Johnson administration’s ability to work with the chamber.

“The truth is many businesses have long understood the value of investing in young people and their communities,” Tietz said. “What has been lacking is this link, this bridge — a partnership like this between the public and private.”

It wasn’t clear how many chamber members have hired Chicago young people this summer. The city also works with non-profit organizations to hire young kids, such as A Knock At Midnight on the city’s South Side, where the news conference and an ongoing orientation took place Monday.

Mariah Woelfel covers city government and politics for WBEZ.