2022 Summer Employment and Unemployment Among Youth — 2022-08-17

In July 2022, 55.3 percent of young people (persons ages 16 to 24) were employed, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This measure was up from 54.4 percent in July 2021. The July 2022 figure remains below its level of 56.2 percent in July 2019, prior to the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (The month of July typically is the summertime peak in youth employment.) The unemployment rate for youth was 8.5 percent in July 2022, down from the rate in July 2021 (10.0 percent) but little different from July 2019 (9.1 percent). (Because this analysis focuses on the seasonal changes in youth employment and unemployment that occur each spring and summer, the data are not seasonally adjusted.) The youth labor force--16- to 24-year-olds working or actively looking for work--grows sharply between April and July each year.