2020 Summer Employment and Unemployment Among Youth — 2020-08-18

From April to July 2020, the number of employed youth 16 to 24 years old increased by 4.4 million to 17.5 million, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. In July 2020, 46.7 percent of young people were employed, down from 56.2 percent in July 2019. (The month of July typically is the summertime peak in youth employment.) The unemployment rate for youth was 18.5 percent in July 2020, down from 26.9 percent in April but still about twice as high as a year earlier. (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.