Youth Employment Rate Hits Record Low for July

In what one researcher lamented as “another summer of lost opportunities,” the number of employed young people in the United States was a mere 48.8 percent in July. That was the lowest July rate on record since the government began tracking rates in 1948, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

From April to July, the number of employed youths, which includes people ages 16 to 24, did rise by 1.7 million, to 18.6 million, the bureau said Wednesday.

But more young people were looking for work to help pay for school expenses, and recent graduates are looking for permanent jobs.

This summer, the youth labor force grew by 2.4 million, or 11.8 percent, to 22.7 million in July, the bureau said.

“This has been another summer of lost opportunities for our nation’s young people,” Mike Saltsman, research fellow at the think tank Employment Policies Institute, told CNSNews.com.

“The combined impacts of the Great Recession and increases in the minimum wage in states and at the federal level have locked thousands out of the labor market,” he said.

“As a result, the next generation is missing out on the life lessons that come from an entry-level job,” Saltsman said.