The lowest share ever of 16- to 24-year-olds had summer jobs this year.
Only 48.8 percent of that age group was employed in July 2011, the worst on record since 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the seasonal youth job market.The labor force participation rate — the proportion of the 16- to 24-year-old population that was working or looking for work — slumped to 59.5 percent in July, also a record low. The bureau’s annual report on summer employment, released Wednesday, said the top year for youth participation in the labor force was 1989. At 77.5 percent, that was 18 percentage points higher than this year’s rate.About 18.6 million young Americans had jobs in the peak month of summer employment this year.Meanwhile, the number of young people who wanted to work but couldn’t find a job was estimated at 4.1 million, or 18.1 percent.That was down from 4.4 million in July 2010, when the youth unemployment rate hit a record high for that month of 19.1 percent.The labor bureau said that one-fourth of the young people employed this summer worked in the leisure and hospitality sector, which includes food services. Another one-fifth worked in retail.Read more Workplace
Posted on Wed, Aug. 24, 2011 10:15 PM
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Worst-ever summer for young people’s employment
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To reach Diane Stafford, call 816-234-4359 or send email to stafford@kcstar.com.
