Students have one more reason to be glad to head back to school this semester: no more fruitless summer job hunting. August was another disappointing month for young adults looking for work. No new jobs were created, and unemployment among workers 16 to 24 held steady at 17.7 percent. That’s still 8.6 percent above the national unemployment rate, which makes the economy much less welcoming for young people than for everyone else. Nearly one in three young African Americans were looking for work last month, as were about one in five young Hispanics.

Zero job creation doesn’t offer much reason for optimism for young people, and many students will be happy to focus on classes rather than “help wanted” ads. For those not heading back to school, there may be better job prospects as students leave the workforce. But job creation in the coming months will also depend on economic activity and the jobs proposals that will be announced in the coming days. Hopefully these proposals will help create the new jobs that young adults desperately need this fall.