. One-Third of Young Americans Are Underemployed
Newsmax
The struggling U.S. economy has been particularly hard on young people — Americans ages 18 to 29 are suffering higher unemployment and underemployment rates than other age groups, a new Gallup poll reveals.
Unemployment among young adults stood at 13.6 percent in April, up from 12.5 percent in March and the same as in April 2011.
Among those ages 30 to 49, the unemployment rate stood at 7 percent in April, and at just 6.2 percent among those ages 50 to 64.
In addition to the unemployed, 18.4 percent of young Americans are working part time but looking for full-time work. Combining that figure with the 13.6 percent unemployed brings the underemployment total to 32 percent — essentially one-third of all Americans ages 18 to 29, according to Gallup.
That’s up from 30.1 percent in March and 30.7 percent in April 2011, so their situation is not improving.
Underemployment in April was 14 percent among those ages 30 to 49, and 13.6 percent among those ages 50 to 64.
“April has brought gloomy job news for young Americans and underscores that this group has been struggling disproportionately for some time,” Gallup observes.
Gallup points out that only 3.1 percent of young adults say they are self-employed, compared to 7.3 percent of all Americans in the workforce. Most young people lack the necessary experience and knowledge to succeed in self-employment.
“Nearly one in three young adults in the workforce are not now able to gain full-time job experience,” Gallup concludes.
“This not only hurts them temporarily, but deprives them of the experience they need to get a better job in the future. It also deprives U.S. companies of the skilled and experienced workers they will need for their businesses to prosper in the years ahead.”
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