August 2021
National labor participation rates among teenagers, ages 16 to 19, have been declining over the past generations. At the start of tracking in January 1948, labor force participation among teenagers was consistently above 50%, reaching its height in the fall of 1978 when rates hovered between 58.1% and 58.4%.
Looking at the last decades, and excluding the pandemic, labor force participation among teenagers declined from 52.2% in February 2000 to 36.2% in February 2020, the last pre-pandemic month. As with many things, the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily accelerated the trend, with teenage labor participation rates bottoming out at 30.7% in April 2020, the lowest rate since tracking began in 1948.
Teenage labor participation rates appear to have recovered to their pre-pandemic levels, hitting a five-year high in April 2021. What percentage of teenagers age 16 to 19 were in the labor force at its five-year peak in 2021?
A. 66.5%
B. 47.4%
C. 37.4%
D. 39.9%
ANSWER
Answer C. 37.4% of teenagers were in the labor force in April 2020. Rates since September 2020 have hovered around 35.1% to 37.4%.
Many of the reasons that are often cited for lower participation rates are related to generally positive trends, including declining high school dropout rates, higher college enrollment rates, and the increasing participation of teenagers in post-high school training for technical jobs.
Sources:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Participation Rate – 16-19 Yrs. [LNS11300012], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS11300012, August 11, 2021.
