One Astounding Fact from the August Unemployment Numbers
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Did you know youth unemployment in the U.S. has been at least twice the national average for more than 60 consecutive months?
And August was no different. The total unemployment rate was 6.1 percent, but for young adults ages 16 to 19 the unemployment rate was 19.6 percent. For those ages 20 to 24, the unemployment rate was 10.6 percent. Check out the graphic below to see how staggering that really is.
Crazy, right? Well, those are the shocking statistics for millions of young Americans. And their struggles in the labor market carry grave implications for all of us. Not enough people are talking about this. That’s why we are highlighting the urgent issue of youth employment on our blog and via social media, as well as through our upcoming National Opportunity Summit in February 2015.
In the coming months we’ll be highlighting new studies on this crisis and bright ideas for how to solve it.
Russell Krumnow
Russell Krumnow is the Managing Director of Opportunity Nation and works with more than 350 partner organizations to advance policy change and community actions that expand economic opportunity across the country. Read Russell's bio.
