U.S. teenage unemployment rate monthly number 2022-2024

Unemployment among teenagers (16 to 19 years) in the United States stood at 13.8 percent in October 2024. The unemployment rate for teenagers has typically been much higher than that of adults. Seasonal adjustment is a statistical method for removing the seasonal component of a time series that is used when analyzing non-seasonal trends. The general unemployment rate by state can be found here, and the annual national unemployment rate can be found here.

Youth unemployment

Youth unemployment, unlike teen unemployment, includes unemployed individuals aged 16 to 24. It includes many more individuals who have either just finished school or are graduated and looking for work. An unemployed person is someone who is laid off, fired or quits their work and is still looking for a job. Even in healthy economies, unemployment occurs. There are many reasons behind the unemployment of young people, for example: an educational system mismatched between academic education and needs in labor markets.

As of 2020, the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector had the highest global youth unemployment rate at 28.9 percent.