Great Recession, great recovery? Trends from the Current Population Survey

percentage points lower, respectively, than in July 2019.The July 2022 labor force participation rate for young Asians was 4.8 percentage points higher than in July 2019.(See table 2.) EmploymentIn July 2022, there were 21.0 million employed 16-to 24-year-olds.Between April and July, the number of employed youth rose by 2.1 million, or 11.4 percent.The employment-population ratio for youth-the proportion of the 16-to 24-year-old civilian noninstitutional population with a job-was 55.3 percent in July 2022, an increase of 0.9 percentage point from the prior year.However, the July 2022 ratio was lower than the July 2019 ratio of 56.2 percent.(See tables 1 and 2.) Employment-population ratios were higher in July 2022 than they were a year earlier for young men (56.3 percent), Whites (58.3 percent), and Asians (44.1 percent), while the ratios for women (54.3 percent), Blacks (46.4 percent), and Hispanics (50.1 percent) were little changed.The employment-population ratios in July 2022 for men, women, Whites, Asians, and Hispanics were little different than in July 2019, while the ratio for Blacks was 3.4 percentage points lower than in July 2019.In July 2022, 24 percent (5.1 million) of employed 16-to 24-year-olds worked in the leisure and hospitality industry, little different from the prior year.An additional 19 percent of employed youth worked in the retail trade industry in July 2022, and 12 percent worked in education and health services.(See table 3.) UnemploymentTypically, the number of unemployed young people increases between April and July, as people who were not in the labor force while attending school begin seeking employment.Unemployment among youth rose by 479,000 from April to July 2022.About three-fourths of the unemployed youth were looking for full-time work in July 2022, little different from the prior year.(See tables 1 and 2.)The youth unemployment rate, at 8.5 percent in July 2022, was down from 10.0 percent in July 2021 but little different from the July 2019 rate of 9.1 percent.The July 2022 unemployment rates for young men (8.8 percent), Whites (7.0 percent), and Hispanics (9.7 percent) were lower than in the prior summer, while the rates for women (8.2 percent), Blacks (15.9 percent), and Asians (10.8 percent) were little changed from July 2021.