Unemployment

Unemployment does not occur evenly in all occupations or sectors of society. Workers under twenty-five years of age are far more likely than older workers to be unemployed. The jobs held by younger workers are often more marginal, and younger workers leave their jobs more often than older workers. In addition, workers under age twenty-five also have less seniority to protect them against layoffs.

During 2005, for example, the unemployment rate among those sixteen years of age and older was greatest among sixteen- to nineteen-year-olds (16.6% of those in the labor force). It was higher for men in that age group (18.6%) than it was for women (14.5%), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS; ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat3.txt).