August 28, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Youth labor force participation this summer

The labor force participation rate for youth—the proportion of the population age 16 to 24 working or looking for work—was 71.9 percent in July.

Labor force participation rate of 16- to 24-year-olds, by sex, July 1997-2000 (not seasonally adjusted)
[Chart data—TXT]

Labor force participation for young men each July has been trending down since 1990 and has now reached its lowest point on record, 75.4 percent. The youth labor force participation rates for women (68.4 percent), whites (74.8 percent), and blacks (62.0 percent) were little changed from their July 1999 levels.

These data are a product of the Current Population Survey. Because the focus of this analysis is the seasonal changes in youth employment and unemployment that occur every spring and summer, the data are not seasonally adjusted. Find out more in "Employment and Unemployment Among Youth -- Summer 2000," news release USDL 00-243.

Happy 10th Birthday, TED!

The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far.

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