1994 Summer Employment and Unemployment Among Youth — 1994-08-19

The number of 16- to 24-year-olds with jobs increased by 2.9 million from April to July of 1994, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The number who were unemployed (those looking for work) also rose--by 374,000--between the spring and summer, as is usual during this time of the year. (See table 1.) (Because the focus of this analysis is on seasonal movements in the number of young workers, the data used for this release are not seasonally adjusted.) The 16- to 24-year-old labor force expands sharply each summer, as large numbers of students enter the labor market to take or search for summer jobs, and many high school and college graduates seek permanent ones. Combining the increases in employment and unemployment, the youth labor force increased by 3.3 million this summer. This seasonal buildup included 1.9 million young men and 1.4 million young women.