Although measuring teenage employment during the months when school is out, these numbers from the Cleveland Fed highlight a depressing story when it comes to summer jobs.
In May, the unemployment rate for teenage workers increased from 15.4 percent to 18.7 percent, as large numbers of young workers entered the labor market but had yet to find jobs. June’s unemployment rate for teenagers sagged slightly to 18.1 percent but remains at a very high level. However, 359,000 teenagers left the labor force this month, which is a large number considering the overall labor force decline of 144,000.
These numbers confirm my own anecdotal sense that teenagers are finding it hard to get jobs. Instead, they’re relying more on their parents to pay them for work around the house, such as tackling the garage or painting the deck.
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