More than 30 percent of youth ages 16 to 19 were unemployed in April 2020

Mathematica researchers examine unemployment rates across age groups and find that youth age 16 to 24 have the highest unemployment rates amid the pandemic. Even over the last 20 years before the pandemic, youth 16 to 24 have been two to three times more likely to experience unemployment than adults age 25 to 54. This trend continued as unemployment rates skyrocketed for all age groups once the pandemic hit. In April 2020, the unemployment rate for youth age 16 to 24 was 27.4 percent, and for those age 16 to 19, it was 31.9 percent. For that same month, the unemployment rate for adults age 25 to 54 was 12.8 percent. Unemployment rates dropped slightly for all age groups in May 2020, but one-quarter of youth age 16 to 24 were still unemployed. #workforce #covid-19