Friday, March 6, 2015

US Unemployment In Key Age Group: 14%

Generation Opportunity, a national, non-partisan youth advocacy organization, is announcing its Millennial Jobs Report for February 2015. The data is non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) and is specific to 18-29-year-olds:
  • The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29-year-olds, which adjusts for labor force participation by including those who have given up looking for work, is 14 percent (NSA). The (U-3) unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds is 9.1 percent (NSA). 
  • The declining labor force participation rate has created an additional 1.815 million young adults that are not counted as “unemployed” by the U.S. Department of Labor because they are not in the labor force, meaning that those young people have given up looking for work due to the lack of jobs. 
  • The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29-year-old African-Americans is 20.4 percent (NSA); the (U-3) unemployment rate is 16.2 percent (NSA). 
  • The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29-year-old Hispanics is 14.4 percent (NSA); the (U-3) unemployment rate is 9.8 percent (NSA). 
  • The effective (U-6) unemployment rate for 18-29-year-old women is 11.9 percent (NSA); the (U-3) unemployment rate is 8 percent (NSA). 
Patrice Lee, Director of Outreach for Generation Opportunity, issued the following statement:

“Economic opportunity and the availability of jobs are perhaps the most important ingredients for social mobility and progress. That’s why it’s so disheartening to see young black people facing a 20.1 percent unemployment rate. That’s nearly four times the rate for American adults overall.

"Our broken criminal justice system is a major contributor, trapping people in a cycle of poverty driven by mass incarcerations and high recidivism rates and a lack of second chances after having served time. As a nation we should be encouraged that the broad unemployment rates are improving, but we must not leave behind our young people of color who continue to be disproportionately impacted by the gross incompetence of our nation’s criminal justice system.”

Last Saturday, Patrice gave remarks at CPAC 2015 regarding the impact of our broken criminal justice system on the black community.

Learn more at genoppinstitute.org/criminaljustice

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