Employment of young workers, by select industries, 2019–2023
| Employment (share within industry category) | Change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industry (share of total, 2023) | 2019 | 2023 | Level, 2019-2023 | Percent, 2019-2023 |
| All | 19,322,150 | 19,679,213 | 357,063 | 1.8% |
| Construction (6.1%) | 1,061,504 | 1,204,245 | 142,741 | 13.4% |
| Educational and health services (17.0%) | 3,392,837 | 3,345,669 | -47,168 | -1.4% |
| Educational services | 1,371,546 (40.4%) | 1,238,626 (37.0%) | -132,920 | -9.7% |
| Colleges and universities, including junior colleges | 695,153 (50.7%) | 544,281 (43.9%) | -150,872 | -21.7% |
| Elementary and secondary schools | 513,604 (37.5%) | 533,477 (43.1%) | 19,873 | 3.9% |
| Leisure and hospitality (24.0%) | 4,812,010 | 4,717,968 | -94,042 | -2.0% |
| Food services and drinking places | 3,798,490 (78.9%) | 3,746,381 (79.4%) | -52,109 | -1.4% |
| Manufacturing (6.6%) | 1,307,108 | 1,298,733 | -8,375 | -0.6% |
| Professional and business services (8.2%) | 1,579,657 | 1,620,981 | 41,324 | 2.6% |
| Administrative and support services | 662,998 (43.9%) | 727,167 (46.1%) | 64,169 | 9.7% |
| Transportation and utilities (5.3%) | 740,774 | 1,046,203 | 305,429 | 41.2% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 674,026 (91.0%) | 965,104 (92.3%) | 291,078 | 43.2% |
| Couriers and messengers | 190,173 (28.2%) | 348,352 (36.1%) | 158,179 | 83.2% |
| Warehousing and storage | 130,536 (19.4%) | 229,254 (23.8%) | 98,718 | 75.6% |
| Wholesale and retail trade (20.2%) | 3,862,845 | 3,965,850 | 103,005 | 2.7% |
| Retail trade | 3,590,671 (93.0%) | 3,723,844 (93.9%) | 133,173 | 3.7% |
| Wholesale trade | 272,174 (7.1%) |
242,006 (6.1%) | -30,168 | -11.1% |
Notes: We remove all sectors that had less than 5% of young adult employment in both 2019 and 2023. This includes agriculture, financial activities, information, mining, other services, and public administration. Data reflect employment at main job. Data for 2023 represent the 12 month average ending in March 2023; data for 2019 represent the calendar year 2019.
Source: Authors' analysis of Current Population Survey basic monthly microdata, EPI Current Population Survey extracts, Version 1.0.40 (2023), https://microdata.epi.org/.
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