2017 Summer Employment and Unemployment Among Youth — 2017-08-16

From April to July 2017, the number of employed youth 16 to 24 years old increased by 1.9 million to 20.9 million, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This year, 54.8 percent of young people were employed in July, up by 1.6 percentage points from a year earlier. (The month of July typically is the summertime peak in youth employment.) The unemployment rate for youth was 9.6 percent in July, down by 1.9 percentage points from July 2016. (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. During these months, large numbers of high school and college students search for or take summer jobs, and many graduates enter the labor market to look for or begin permanent employment.