1998 Summer Employment and Unemployment Among Youth — 1998-09-22

The number of employed youth increased by 2.5 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 lower than in the preceding summer. The number of unemployed youth also rose as it typically does at this time of the year, growing by 702,000 between the spring and summer. (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 many recent graduates look for permanent employment.