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Youth employment grows sharply between April and July each year. During these months, many high school and college students take summer jobs, and graduates enter the labor market for permanent employment.
In July 2022, there were 21.0 million employed 16- to 24-year-olds. Between April and July, the number of employed youths rose by 2.1 million, or 11.4 percent. The employment–population ratio for youth—the proportion of the 16- to 24-year-old population with a job—was 55.3 percent in July 2022, an increase of 0.9 percentage point from the prior year. However, the July 2022 ratio was lower than the July 2019 ratio of 56.2 percent.
Year | Total | Men | Women | White | Black or African American | Asian | Hispanic or Latino |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2003 |
58.3% | 60.1% | 56.6% | 62.6% | 41.7% | 43.8% | 53.4% |
2004 |
58.9 | 62.0 | 55.8 | 62.8 | 42.4 | 47.8 | 54.6 |
2005 |
59.3 | 61.6 | 57.0 | 62.8 | 44.7 | 46.7 | 54.1 |
2006 |
59.2 | 61.9 | 56.5 | 63.3 | 43.5 | 42.8 | 55.2 |
2007 |
58.0 | 60.3 | 55.6 | 61.7 | 43.0 | 45.6 | 52.5 |
2008 |
56.0 | 57.9 | 54.2 | 59.7 | 41.2 | 46.4 | 50.5 |
2009 |
51.4 | 52.2 | 50.5 | 55.2 | 36.4 | 41.3 | 46.5 |
2010 |
48.9 | 49.9 | 48.0 | 53.0 | 34.4 | 37.9 | 43.6 |
2011 |
48.8 | 50.2 | 47.3 | 52.3 | 34.6 | 40.5 | 42.9 |
2012 |
50.2 | 51.9 | 48.4 | 53.5 | 38.9 | 37.4 | 46.5 |
2013 |
50.7 | 51.7 | 49.6 | 54.3 | 38.6 | 39.2 | 47.4 |
2014 |
51.9 | 53.6 | 50.1 | 55.4 | 39.8 | 40.8 | 47.0 |
2015 |
52.7 | 53.9 | 51.4 | 55.8 | 44.7 | 39.8 | 49.1 |
2016 |
53.2 | 54.9 | 51.5 | 56.5 | 42.7 | 38.8 | 49.8 |
2017 |
54.8 | 56.1 | 53.4 | 57.2 | 46.9 | 42.7 | 50.9 |
2018 |
55.0 | 55.2 | 54.8 | 58.0 | 47.2 | 39.7 | 51.7 |
2019 |
56.2 | 57.3 | 55.1 | 58.9 | 49.8 | 41.0 | 51.3 |
2020 |
46.7 | 47.7 | 45.8 | 49.5 | 39.2 | 32.0 | 42.6 |
2021 |
54.4 | 55.1 | 53.7 | 57.2 | 47.6 | 39.1 | 50.2 |
2022 |
55.3 | 56.3 | 54.3 | 58.3 | 46.4 | 44.1 | 50.1 |
Employment–population ratios were higher in July 2022 than they were a year earlier for young men (56.3 percent), Whites (58.3 percent), and Asians (44.1 percent). The ratios for young women (54.3 percent), Blacks (46.4 percent), and Hispanics (50.1 percent) were little changed. The employment–population ratios in July 2022 for men, women, Whites, Asians, and Hispanics were little different than in July 2019, while the ratio for Blacks was 3.4 percentage points lower than in July 2019.
These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see “Employment and Unemployment among Youth — Summer 2022.” People whose ethnicity is Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, 55.3 percent of 16- to 24-year-olds employed in July 2022, up from 54.4 percent in July 2021 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/55-3-percent-of-16-to-24-year-olds-employed-in-july-2022-up-from-54-4-percent-in-july-2021.htm (visited October 12, 2024).