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In July 2014, 51.9 percent of 16- to 24-year-olds were employed, up from 50.7 percent a year earlier. (The month of July typically is the summertime peak in youth employment.) The labor force participation rate for all youth was 60.5 percent in July, the same as the July value in the prior two summers, but above the July low of 59.5 percent in 2011.
The summer labor force participation rate of youth has been declining for many years. The July 2014 participation rate was 17.0 percentage points below the peak rate for that month in 1989 (77.5 percent).
Year | Both sexes | Men | Women |
---|---|---|---|
1974 | 73.2 | 84.3 | 62.6 |
1975 | 73.0 | 83.5 | 63.1 |
1976 | 74.1 | 83.8 | 64.9 |
1977 | 74.7 | 84.5 | 65.2 |
1978 | 76.5 | 85.0 | 68.4 |
1979 | 76.6 | 85.0 | 68.4 |
1980 | 76.3 | 84.4 | 68.5 |
1981 | 75.3 | 82.7 | 68.0 |
1982 | 74.7 | 81.2 | 68.5 |
1983 | 75.6 | 83.0 | 68.4 |
1984 | 76.3 | 82.5 | 70.3 |
1985 | 76.5 | 82.8 | 70.3 |
1986 | 76.7 | 82.9 | 70.6 |
1987 | 76.3 | 81.4 | 71.3 |
1988 | 76.9 | 82.5 | 71.4 |
1989 | 77.5 | 82.8 | 72.4 |
1990 | 75.1 | 80.8 | 69.5 |
1991 | 73.6 | 79.6 | 67.6 |
1992 | 74.6 | 79.8 | 69.5 |
1993 | 74.5 | 79.5 | 69.5 |
1994 | 74.1 | 78.8 | 69.4 |
1995 | 74.3 | 79.3 | 69.3 |
1996 | 73.3 | 78.3 | 68.3 |
1997 | 73.0 | 76.5 | 69.4 |
1998 | 72.8 | 76.3 | 69.3 |
1999 | 72.6 | 76.0 | 69.1 |
2000 | 71.6 | 75.2 | 68.1 |
2001 | 70.7 | 74.1 | 67.2 |
2002 | 69.5 | 72.3 | 66.6 |
2003 | 67.3 | 70.0 | 64.5 |
2004 | 67.2 | 70.4 | 63.9 |
2005 | 66.6 | 69.6 | 63.6 |
2006 | 66.7 | 69.7 | 63.6 |
2007 | 65.0 | 67.9 | 62.1 |
2008 | 65.1 | 68.1 | 62.1 |
2009 | 63.0 | 64.9 | 61.1 |
2010 | 60.5 | 62.7 | 58.1 |
2011 | 59.5 | 61.4 | 57.6 |
2012 | 60.5 | 63.2 | 57.8 |
2013 | 60.5 | 62.7 | 58.2 |
2014 | 60.5 | 63.2 | 57.8 |
Year | Both sexes | Men | Women |
---|---|---|---|
1974 | 64.1 | 74.9 | 53.9 |
1975 | 61.1 | 69.7 | 53.0 |
1976 | 63.7 | 72.1 | 55.6 |
1977 | 64.7 | 73.7 | 56.0 |
1978 | 66.9 | 75.3 | 58.8 |
1979 | 67.6 | 75.6 | 59.9 |
1980 | 65.1 | 71.7 | 58.8 |
1981 | 64.8 | 71.5 | 58.2 |
1982 | 61.8 | 66.8 | 56.9 |
1983 | 63.3 | 68.9 | 57.8 |
1984 | 66.1 | 71.3 | 61.0 |
1985 | 65.9 | 71.2 | 60.8 |
1986 | 66.7 | 72.0 | 61.5 |
1987 | 67.3 | 72.0 | 62.7 |
1988 | 68.5 | 73.5 | 63.7 |
1989 | 69.2 | 74.4 | 64.1 |
1990 | 67.0 | 72.2 | 61.8 |
1991 | 63.5 | 68.5 | 58.4 |
1992 | 63.8 | 68.2 | 59.4 |
1993 | 64.6 | 68.6 | 60.6 |
1994 | 64.7 | 68.5 | 60.8 |
1995 | 64.9 | 69.6 | 60.1 |
1996 | 64.1 | 68.1 | 60.0 |
1997 | 64.6 | 67.7 | 61.5 |
1998 | 64.9 | 67.8 | 62.0 |
1999 | 65.2 | 68.2 | 62.3 |
2000 | 64.8 | 67.9 | 61.6 |
2001 | 63.3 | 66.3 | 60.2 |
2002 | 60.9 | 63.2 | 58.5 |
2003 | 58.3 | 60.1 | 56.6 |
2004 | 58.9 | 62.0 | 55.8 |
2005 | 59.3 | 61.6 | 57.0 |
2006 | 59.2 | 61.9 | 56.5 |
2007 | 58.0 | 60.3 | 55.6 |
2008 | 56.0 | 57.9 | 54.2 |
2009 | 51.4 | 52.2 | 50.5 |
2010 | 48.9 | 49.9 | 48.0 |
2011 | 48.8 | 50.2 | 47.3 |
2012 | 50.2 | 51.9 | 48.4 |
2013 | 50.7 | 51.7 | 49.6 |
2014 | 51.9 | 53.6 | 50.1 |
Year | Both sexes | Men | Women |
---|---|---|---|
1974 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 14.0 |
1975 | 16.3 | 16.5 | 16.1 |
1976 | 14.1 | 13.9 | 14.2 |
1977 | 13.3 | 12.7 | 14.1 |
1978 | 12.6 | 11.3 | 14.0 |
1979 | 11.7 | 11.1 | 12.4 |
1980 | 14.7 | 15.1 | 14.2 |
1981 | 14.0 | 13.5 | 14.5 |
1982 | 17.3 | 17.7 | 16.9 |
1983 | 16.2 | 16.9 | 15.5 |
1984 | 13.4 | 13.6 | 13.1 |
1985 | 13.7 | 13.9 | 13.5 |
1986 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 12.9 |
1987 | 11.7 | 11.5 | 12.0 |
1988 | 10.9 | 10.9 | 10.8 |
1989 | 10.7 | 10.1 | 11.4 |
1990 | 10.9 | 10.6 | 11.1 |
1991 | 13.7 | 13.9 | 13.6 |
1992 | 14.5 | 14.6 | 14.4 |
1993 | 13.3 | 13.6 | 12.9 |
1994 | 12.7 | 13.1 | 12.3 |
1995 | 12.7 | 12.2 | 13.3 |
1996 | 12.6 | 13.0 | 12.1 |
1997 | 11.4 | 11.4 | 11.4 |
1998 | 10.8 | 11.2 | 10.4 |
1999 | 10.1 | 10.3 | 9.9 |
2000 | 9.6 | 9.7 | 9.5 |
2001 | 10.5 | 10.6 | 10.4 |
2002 | 12.4 | 12.5 | 12.2 |
2003 | 13.3 | 14.2 | 12.2 |
2004 | 12.3 | 12.0 | 12.7 |
2005 | 11.0 | 11.5 | 10.5 |
2006 | 11.2 | 11.2 | 11.1 |
2007 | 10.8 | 11.1 | 10.4 |
2008 | 14.0 | 15.0 | 12.8 |
2009 | 18.5 | 19.7 | 17.3 |
2010 | 19.1 | 20.5 | 17.5 |
2011 | 18.1 | 18.3 | 17.8 |
2012 | 17.1 | 17.9 | 16.2 |
2013 | 16.3 | 17.6 | 14.8 |
2014 | 14.3 | 15.1 | 13.4 |
In July 2014, 25 percent of employed youth worked in the leisure and hospitality industry (which includes food services), and 19 percent worked in the retail trade industry. These two industries typically account for large shares of summer youth employment.
The youth unemployment rate was 14.3 percent in July 2014, 2.0 percentage points less than a year before. Among the major demographic groups, July unemployment rates were lower than the prior year for young men (15.1 percent), young women (13.4 percent), whites (12.2 percent), and blacks (24.8 percent), while youth jobless rates changed little for Asians (10.9 percent), and Hispanics (16.5 percent).
These data are from the Current Population Survey. 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. For more information, see "Employment and Unemployment among Youth — Summer 2014" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL‑14‑1498. Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Youth employment and unemployment, July 2014 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2014/ted_20140819.htm (visited October 15, 2024).