The employment situation for U.S. teenagers dipped slightly in April 2024. The seasonally adjusted number of 16-19 year olds counted as having jobs decreased from the previous month's total by 23,000 (or 0.4%) to 5,839,000. That's just under a third of the entire population of U.S. teens in this age bracket.

Although it dipped, the jobs trend for older teens (Age 18-19) remains positive. The same however cannot be said of younger teens (Age 16-17), whose numbers among the employed have been generally declining since December 2022 and more sharply since January 2024.

These changes can be seen in the following paired set of charts, which track teen employment and the teen employment-to-population data from January 2016 through April 2024.

Each of the data series presented in these charts receives its own seasonal adjustment. Because of that, the numbers of working Age 16-17 year olds and Age 18-19 year olds won't necessarily add up to the totals shown for the combined Age 16-19 population. If you're looking for employment figures that do add up, you'll want to review non-seasonally adjusted data.

References

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Labor Force Statistics (Current Population Survey - CPS). [Online Database]. Accessed: 3 May 2024.

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