1997 Summer Employment and Unemployment Among Youth — 1997-08-28

The number of employed youth increased by 2.8 million from April to July, the traditional summertime peak for youth employment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This year�s seasonal expansion in employment of 16- to 24-year-olds was slightly larger than the 2.6 million increase in 1996. The number of unemployed young people, which also grows at this time every year, rose by 448,000, somewhat fewer than a year earlier (603,000). (Because the focus of this analysis is the seasonal changes in youth employment and unemployment that occur every spring and summer, the data are not adjusted for seasonal variations.) The 16- to 24-year old labor force--those working or actively looking for work--grows sharply between April and July of each year, as large numbers of high school and college students search for summer jobs and recent graduates look for permanent employment.