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Over half of employed youth worked in leisure and hospitality, retail trade, or education and health
September 09, 2025
In July 2025, there were 21.1 million employed youth (people ages 16 to 24) in the United States. The leisure and hospitality industry employed 25 percent (5.4 million) of these young workers, the largest share among industries. An additional 17 percent of employed youth worked in the retail trade industry, and 14 percent worked in education and health services. Professional and business services employed 8 percent of young workers, while construction and manufacturing each employed 6 percent.
Employed people 16 to 24 years of age by industry, race, and ethnicity, percent distribution, July 2025
Industry
Total
White
Black or African American
Asian
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity
Total, all industries
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Leisure and hospitality
25.4
24.9
28.9
22.6
23.5
Retail trade
16.9
16.7
18.7
11.4
17.5
Education and health services
14.0
13.2
16.8
20.9
12.3
Professional and business services
8.0
8.4
4.6
11.3
7.6
Construction
6.0
6.8
3.1
2.4
9.1
Manufacturing
5.9
6.4
4.7
4.2
6.1
Other services
4.5
4.8
4.5
2.4
3.5
Local government
3.9
4.2
2.3
4.5
3.7
Financial activities
3.7
3.5
3.5
7.2
2.8
Transportation and utilities
3.3
2.9
4.5
7.7
4.4
Self-employed, unincorporated, and unpaid family workers
2.2
2.0
2.8
1.2
2.7
State government
2.2
2.0
1.9
2.4
2.3
Agriculture and related industries
1.3
1.6
0.6
0.3
1.3
Federal government
0.9
0.7
1.9
1.2
0.9
Wholesale trade
0.8
1.0
0.7
0.0
1.1
Information
0.7
0.8
0.3
0.1
0.8
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.0
0.3
Note: Percentages may not sum to 100.0 percent due to rounding. People whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. Data are not seasonally adjusted.
By contrast, federal government, wholesale trade, information, and mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction each employed 1 percent or less of the 16- to 24-year-olds who had jobs.
In terms of race and ethnicity, the share of young workers employed in leisure and hospitality ranged from 23 percent among Asian youth to 29 percent among Black or African American youth. Similarly, 11 percent of Asian youth worked in retail trade, compared with 19 percent of their Black or African American counterparts.
Shares of employed youth who worked in education and health services in July 2025 ranged from 12 percent of Hispanic or Latino youth to 21 percent of Asian workers ages 16 to 24.
United States Department of Labor
