Millennials Continue to Struggle with Unemployment

Generation Opportunity’s Millennial Jobs Report has indicated that the unemployment rate for workers between 18 and 29 years of age hit 10.9 percent in November with African Americans (18.5 percent) and Hispanic (12.5 percent) workers recording above average unemployment. Female Millennials fared slightly better than the average with an unemployment rate of 10.5 percent. An additional 1.7 million Millennials are no longer included in unemployment figures as they have dropped out of the jobs market due to a lack of opportunities.

“Today’s unemployment picture for Millennials offers little in the way of promise for a generation in which genuine opportunities continue to be few and far between,” says Matthew Faraci, senior vice president for communications at Generation Opportunity and a former U.S. Labor Department spokesman. “Expected temporary seasonal hiring brought the overall 18-29 year old unemployment rate to 10.9 percent. However, more than 1.7 million young adults are still not counted by the Department of Labor as unemployed because they have given up looking for work due to the lack of available jobs.

An even direr scenario, if the labor force participation rate was calculated into the unemployment measures, the unemployment rate for Millennials would rise to a devastating 16.4 percent.

“If you factor in those young adults, the millennial unemployment rate rises to 16.4 percent, which is virtually identical to last month. Millennials have high expectations of those who were elected in November and are eager for the kind of real job growth that would finally, after years of stagnation, afford them a chance to put their substantial skills to work,” Faraci said.