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Unemployment among young U.S. workers is the highest it’s been in nearly four years. 

Unemployment among young U.S. workers (those aged 16-24) was 10.5% in August 2025. That is the highest rate since February 2021 when it was 10.9%.

The World Health Organization ended the COVID-19 pandemic’s “global health emergency” status on May 5, 2023. However, prior to the pandemic, youth unemployment was higher than current levels from August 2007 to January 2016.

The reason for the recent rise in youth unemployment is unclear. Some economists point to displacement of recent college graduates by artificial intelligence, while others point to a broadly softening labor market. 

The overall unemployment rate was 4.3% in August 2025.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

This fact brief was originally published by Econofact on October 14, 2025, and was authored by Keshav Srikant. Econofact is a member of the Gigafact network.