BLS: Youth Unemployment Rate Fell to 9.1% in July 2026
The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued youth labor market figures on Aug. 20, 2026. The release reports measured counts and rates for people ages 16 to 24 for July 2026 and comparisons with July 2025 and the April–July interval described in the release.
Headline measures
In July 2026, 53.8% of people ages 16 to 24 were employed, compared with 53.1% in July 2025. The youth unemployment rate—the share of the youth labor force that was unemployed—was 9.1% in July 2026, down from 10.8% a year earlier. The release presents these measures as the readings published by the BLS for the population and periods stated.
Counts behind the rates
The BLS release reports that the youth labor force grew by 2.1 million, an increase of 9.8% from April to July 2026, rising from 21.4 million to 23.5 million. The labor force, as defined in the release, is the sum of employed youth and unemployed youth who are actively seeking work. In July 2026 the number of employed youth was 21.3 million, and the number of unemployed youth totaled 2.1 million.
Participation and employment-population ratio
The participation rate for people ages 16 to 24 was 59.1% in July 2026, compared with 59.5% a year earlier. The employment-population ratio, which the release reports as the share of the 16–24 population that was employed, was 53.8% in July 2026 and 53.1% in July 2025. The unemployment rate cited above is the proportion of the youth labor force that was unemployed for the periods noted.
Industry distribution among employed youth
The release includes a breakdown of employed youth by industry. In July 2026, leisure and hospitality accounted for 25% of employed youth, representing 5.3 million young workers. Retail accounted for 18% of employed youth, and education and health services accounted for 14% of the youth employed population. Those shares are presented in the BLS tables as the distribution of employed youth across industries for the month reported.
Unemployed youth and job-search preferences
Unemployed youth increased by 322,000 between April and July 2026, reaching 2.1 million in July. The release reports that about seven in ten of those unemployed youth were looking for full-time work. The figures present the counts and shares for those seeking full-time versus part-time work as recorded in the BLS youth labor market data.
Seasonal adjustment and scope
The release states that the data are not seasonally adjusted because the publication focuses on seasonal patterns among youth. The lack of seasonal adjustment means the tables show measured counts and rates for the specific months and intervals reported rather than series smoothed to remove typical seasonal variation. The release provides tables and technical notes that set out the definitions, sample design and measurement conventions used to produce these numbers.
What this release presents and what it does not decide
The BLS release is a statistical presentation of measured levels and rates for youth employment, unemployment, labor force size and industry shares for the population and periods stated above. It reports the counts, rates and shares that resulted from the agency’s measurement and tabulation. The release does not, in itself, assign causes for changes in those measurements; it is a report of statistics produced from the BLS surveys and classifications described in the accompanying tables and notes.
For the full tables and technical notes accompanying these figures, see the official release attributed source wording.
For related coverage and archival reporting on business and labor market topics, see the business category at descriptive category wording.
How to read the summer data
The BLS release explains that July is typically the summertime peak in youth employment. Its comparison is designed around the seasonal movement that occurs when students seek summer jobs and graduates enter the labor market. For that reason, the figures in the release are not seasonally adjusted. That detail is important when comparing July with April or interpreting a change from one summer to the next.
The report also separates employment, unemployment and labor-force participation. A person counted as unemployed must be available for work and either looking for work or on temporary layoff. The release says the youth labor force expanded between April and July, which means the number of people looking for work rose alongside summer employment. The published figures describe that period; they do not assign a single cause to the year-over-year change in the unemployment rate.
