Marketplace · Wednesday, July 1, 2026
The unemployment rate for young job seekers (16-19 year olds) has risen significantly, while overall teen participation in the workforce has decreased over decades. In the 1980s, two-thirds of teenagers had summer jobs, compared to one-third today.
“The data set we're interested in right now is young job seekers, 16 to 19 year olds. For whom the unemployment rate has sharply diverged from the national number, going up steadily the past couple of years from just over 10% in May of 2023 to nearly 15% in May of this year.”
“Back in the 1980s, about two out of every three teenagers had paid work in the summertime. That's down to around one in three of late.”