SALT LAKE CITY — We are just a few months removed from the midterm elections, and another election cycle is beginning to start up. However, campaigns for candidates from both political parties are having a hard time finding younger people to fill staff positions.

Caroline Vakil, a political reporter for The Hill, joined Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson on Wednesday to discuss why this has become a problem.

Matheson said, “Give us a sense of what’s the reality on the ground as campaigns try to get organized.”

“Republicans and Democrats that I have talked to have pointed to different reasons why they think this is,” Vakil said. “One of the reasons I’ve heard a bit often is that there’s just this generational change in the minds of how young people are thinking about these jobs.”

She says campaign jobs can be unstable. Additionally, Vakil says these jobs can range for several months to more than a year. And there’s a lot of uncertainty if an individual will even get a job if their candidate is elected. 

Lack of pay causing younger people to turn away from campaigns

Vakil also points to another critically important issue.

“And the pay has also been known for being low,” she said. “Although some sources I’ve talked to, for example, on the Republican side have said that the pay has never been better.”

Matheson points out that the thrill of the race would have been enough for young people in the past. Now, they want financial security.

He asked, “How are both parties trying to navigate that? And what does it look like?”

“Campaigns are being forced to pay more money to offer better salaries for some of these young people,” Vakil said. “And I think there’s a hope among some of these operatives I’ve talked to that young people will kind of change t heir mindset because they say there’s a lot of benefits related to working on a campaign.”

Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson can be heard on weekdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Read more: 

• Trump says he’s ‘more angry’ and ‘more committed’ to White House bid as he breaks his campaign trail hiatus

Follow @MarkJonesKSL