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Youth Unemployment Still Twice the National Average

Spring is here, but the economy does not appear to have flourished as expected last month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that an additional 120,000 people found jobs in March. It was enough to push unemployment down from 8.3% to 8.2%, though not sufficient to signal major improvements. Young people similarly saw few gains. The unemployment for 16 to 24 year olds inched down from 16.5% to 16.4%.

Despite little overall change from the prior month, young men and women had very different experiences in the job market. The unemployment rate for young men fell from over a percentage point over the last month to 17.4% in March. Conversely, the jobless rate for young women rose over a percentage point to 15.4%. In effect, the unemployment rates for 16-24 year old men and women converged.

During the past year, young Americans have actually shown slow, but steady, improvement. Over 375,000 young people ages 16 to 24 found jobs in the past year while their unemployment rate fell over a full percentage point. Older young adults, ages 25 to 34, have shown limited improvement as their jobless rate dropped slightly from 9.2% to 8.6% since March 2011.

Despite the shoots of optimism, there remain nearly 6.5 million unemployed people under the age of 34.  Young men of color are having the hardest time. Young black men ages 16 to 24 have a staggering 30% unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) – basically the same as it was a year ago. One in five young Latino men in the labor force is jobless. Again, that’s about the same as it was last March. Unfortunately, the young Americans hardest hit by the great recession are having the toughest time making their way back to work.

Though this month’s unemployment report undershot expectations, it is important to remember that the government often revises its estimates later. Perhaps young Americans and all Americans did better than the initial estimates suggest. Nevertheless, large segments of our generation continue to grasp for the opportunity for decent, steady work.