Chicago job-plan offices mobbed

More than 20,000 job seekers lined up for blocks to apply for about 1,700 city-created summer jobs that barely pay minimum wage.

Many of the 20,000 people were young. They queued up June 8 at a number of job application centers throughout the city. Extra police officers were called to control crowds as applicants pushed through lines to be among the first to ask for work in the federally funded $3.5 million program.

''They were piled against the glass,'' officer Larry Puzas, assigned to a West Side center, said. ''It was unbelievable.''

The 1,760 temporary jobs pay $3.50 an hour - just 15 cents'more than the minimum wage. A line 21/2 blocks long began forming near the sErvice center about 6:30 a.m. The doors did not open for applicants until 2 p.m.