Youth Summer Employment

This June, more than 6.6 million youth aged 16 to 19 years old were employed — representing more than a third (37.3%) of youth that age. While youth labor force participation declined noticeably in the early 2000’s — paralleled by increases in school attendance — in recent years, youth participation has increased steadily. Youth employment is important because of its promise of putting money into the hands of youth, helping youth develop workplace skills, motivating youth to continue making academic progress, and reducing youth-involved crime. For these reasons, cities across the country have invested in summer employment opportunities for youth. While most funding for summer youth employment programs comes from city budgets, WIOA Youth funding also helps subsidize youth employment. The availability, creation, and funding of youth employment experiences is an ongoing area of policy interest.

Contributor
Daniel Hefel is a data scientist in the Office of Policy Development and Research, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor.

Editor
Kyle DeMaria is a workforce analyst and presidential management fellow in the Office of Policy Development and Research, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor.

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In this edition of Trendlines, we look at recent trends in youth summer employment and highlight distinct patterns by season, state of residence, and family income. We refer to youth as people aged 16 to 19 years old.

Seasonality in Youth Employment

Over the past ten years — from January 2014 to 2024 — the youth labor force participation rate increased by 3.4 percentage points. During this same period, the youth labor force participation rate has seen a consistent increase of 6 to 8 percentage points from May to June each year, reflecting seasonal increases in youth seeking summer jobs. The moderate upward trend in youth unemployment since 2023 suggests there may be an increase in the share of young people who would like to work but are unable to find a job.

Monthly labor force trends for youth aged 16 to 19 years old, July 2014 to May 2024

Source: Current Population Survey (CPS, July 2014 to May 2024) accessed via the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Increases in Youth Employment by Occupation During Summer Months

With the school year behind them, many young people search for a summer job, but in which occupations do they most commonly become employed? This figure shows the ten occupations with the largest increase in youth employment between the spring and summer seasons in 2023. The largest youth employment increases were seen for waitstaff, recreation workers, and fast-food workers. Other top occupations included coaches, childcare workers, and construction laborers. For example, the average level of youth waitstaff employment increased by 87,000 young people between spring and summer 2023.

Increase in youth employment by occupation, spring to summer 2023

Note: Increases are calculated by comparing the average employment level in March–May 2023 to that in June–August 2023. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
Source: analysis of CPS Basic Monthly Samples (March–August 2023) accessed via IPUMS

Variations in Youth Summer Employment by State

Youth summer employment varies quite considerably across states. The map displays the share of young people who were employed during the summer months of June to August 2023. More than half of youth were employed during the summer in several New England (e.g., Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire) and Midwest (e.g., Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin) states. In Maine, three-quarters (75%) of youth were employed. In contrast, several southern (e.g., Mississippi, Texas, Florida) and western (California, Nevada) states had the lowest rates of youth summer employment. For example, in California, nearly a quarter of young people (24%) were employed during the summer.

Employment to population ratio by state, June to August 2023

Source: analysis of CPS Basic Monthly Samples (June–August 2023) accessed via IPUMS