August 24, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Summer youth unemployment rate lowest since 1969

The unemployment rate among youth 16 to 24 years old was 9.6 percent in July. This is the lowest summer youth unemployment rate since 1969.

Unemployment rate of 16- to 24-year-olds, July 1997-2000 (not seasonally adjusted)
[Chart data—TXT]

In July, jobless rates were 9.7 percent for young men, 9.5 percent for women, 7.8 percent for white youth, and 20.3 percent for black youth. These rates were all slightly lower than in 1999, following the downward trend of recent years.

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.

Find out more about the story of TED