August 28, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Summer 2006 labor force participation of youth

The labor force participation rate for youth—the proportion of their population working or looking for work—was 66.7 percent in July 2006.

Labor force participation rate of 16- to 24-year-olds, by sex, July 2003-2006 (not seasonally adjusted)
[Chart data—TXT]

This was essentially unchanged from a year earlier (66.6 percent), but about 11 percentage points below its peak in 1989 (77.5 percent). Over the 1989-2006 period, the proportion of youth enrolled in school in July rose, and youth enrolled in school are much less likely than those not in school to be in the labor force.

The July 2006 labor force participation rates for 16- to 24- year old women (63.6 percent) and men (69.7 percent) were unchanged over the year. For several decades prior to 1989, young men’s July labor force participation rate showed no clear trend, ranging from 81 to 86 percent. Since July 1989, however, their rate has declined by about 13 percentage points.

Young women’s July labor force participation rate, which had plateaued during the 1980s and most of the 1990s after a long-term upward trend, has fallen by about 9 percentage points since 1989.

These data are a product of the Current Population Survey. The data are not seasonally adjusted. Find out more in "Employment and Unemployment Among Youth—Summer 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-1497.

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