US Youth Unemployment Now At 13.6%

Generation Opportunity, a national, non-partisan youth advocacy organization, is announcing its Millennial Jobs Report for May 2015. The data is non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) and is specific to 18-29 year olds: The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds, which adjusts for labor force participation by including those who have given up looking for work, is 13.6 percent (NSA). The (U-3) unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds is 9.1 percent (NSA). The declining labor force participation rate has created an additional 1.791 million young adults that are not counted as “unemployed” by the U.S. Department of Labor because they are not in the labor force, meaning that those young people have given up looking for work due to the lack of jobs. The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29 year old African-Americans is 19.2 percent (NSA); the (U-3) unemployment rate is 16.5 percent (NSA). The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29 year old Hispanics is 13.9 percent (NSA); the (U-3) unemployment rate is 10.3 percent (NSA). The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29 year old women is 11.6 percent (NSA); the (U-3) unemployment rate is 8.6 percent (NSA). Generation Opportunity Director of Policy Engagement Luke Kenworthy issued the following statement: “Young people do have some reason to be optimistic about their futures as they continue to see economic conditions improve for our generation this year. May’s jobs report shows a 13.6 percent youth unemployment rate, down 0.6 percent from where we started at the beginning of 2015. “While we’re encouraged, we also know there are still far too many obstacles in place preventing our generation from exercising our entrepreneurial muscles and creating jobs for ourselves. Excessive government regulations are preventing us from doing the simplest of things – driving for Uber, renting out our homes, or opening a food truck.  “Millennials are key drivers of the American economy – we should be able to pursue our dreams, explore new ideas, and distrupt the status quo. Our generation will flourish when Washington releases its grip on trying to control our futures." Generation Opportunity is a national, non-partisan organization advocating for economic opportunity for young people through less government and more freedom.