Press Releases - Overall Unemployment Rate Drops For Millennials, But Rises For African Americans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 9, 2014
Contact: Sarah Lovenheim, sarah.lovenheim@younginvincibles.org, 585.746.8281

[WASHINGTON]— As the national unemployment rate fell slightly from 5.8 percent in November to 5.6 percent in December and the economy added 252,000 jobs in December, the unemployment rate for 18 to 34 year-olds dipped slightly to 7.9 percent in December from 8.3 percent in November (seasonably adjusted). However, the gap between the unemployment rate for white young adults and black young adults widened.

Black young adults face an unemployment rate that’s more than two and a half times higher than their white peers, 14.8 percent compared to 5.6 percent, respectively. We’d like to see the next Congress pass policies to change this. As our recent report – The Future of Millennial Jobs – showed, job training and higher education will be even more essential in the years ahead to better prepare all Millennials for the job market.

Here is more information on how different populations of young adults fared relative to the overall workforce in December 2014.

• The unemployment rate for Black/African American young adults ages 18 to 34 in December is 14.8 percent (not seasonally adjusted), up from 14.6 percent in November.

• The unemployment rate for Hispanic/Latino young adults ages 18 to 34 in December is 7.8 percent (not seasonally adjusted), down from 8.0 percent in November.

• The unemployment rate for white young adults ages 18 to 34 in December is 5.6 percent (not seasonally adjusted), down from 6.3 percent in November.