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. This summer, the youth labor force grew by 2.4 million, or 11.8 percent, to a total of 22.7 million in July.
The labor force participation rate for all youth--the proportion of the population 16 to 24 years old working or looking for work--was 59.5 percent in July, the lowest July rate on record. The July 2011 rate was down by 1.0 percentage point from July 2010 and was 18.0 percentage points below the peak for that month in 1989 (77.5 percent).
The July 2011 labor force participation rate for 16- to 24-year-old men, at 61.4 percent, fell by 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier. The rate for women, at 57.6 percent, edged down over the year. For several decades prior to 1989, the July labor force participation rate for young men showed no clear trend, ranging from 81 to 86 percent.
Since July 1989, however, their participation rate for the month declined, falling by about 21 percentage points. The July labor force participation rate for young women peaked in 1989 at 72.4 percent, following a long-term upward trend; their rate has since fallen by about 15 percentage points.
The July 2011 labor force participation rate for Hispanic youth was 53.6 percent, down by 2.5 percentage points over the year. The rate for whites decreased by 1.0 percentage point to 62.2 percent. The participation rate for young blacks, at 50.2 percent, was down slightly, while the rate for Asian youth (47.9 percent) was little different from last year.
Employment
In July 2011, 18.6 million 16- to 24-year-olds were employed, about the same as last year. This summer's increase in youth employment--from April to July - was 1.7 million, down slightly from last summer (1.8 million). The employment-population ratio for youth - the proportion of the 16- to 24-year-old civilian noninstitutional population that was employed - was 48.8 percent in July, a record low for the series, though only marginally lower than in July 2010.
In July 2011, the employment-population ratios were little changed from a year earlier for all major demographic groups - young men (50.2 percent), women (47.3 percent), whites (52.3 percent), blacks (34.6 percent), Asians (40.5 percent), and Hispanics (42.9 percent).
Twenty-six percent of employed youth worked in the leisure and hospitality sector (which includes food services), about the same as in July 2010. Another 21 percent were employed in the retail trade industry, also about the same proportion as last year.
Unemployment
The number of unemployed youth in July 2011 was 4.1 million, down from 4.4 million a year ago. The youth unemployment rate declined by 1.0 percentage point over the year to 18.1 percent in July 2011, after hitting a record high for July in 2010. Among major demographic groups, unemployment rates were lower than a year earlier for young men (18.3 percent) and Asians (15.3 percent), while jobless rates were little changed for young women (17.8 percent), whites (15.9 percent), blacks (31.0 percent), and Hispanics (20.1 percent).
