16.1 Percent of Young People Out of Work in May

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Generation Opportunity, a national, non-partisan youth advocacy organization, is announcing its Millennial Jobs Report for May 2013. The data is non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) and is specific to 18-29 year olds:

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110805/DC48058LOGO)

• The effective unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds, which adjusts for labor participation rate by including those who have given up looking for work, is 16.1 percent (NSA).
• The declining labor force participation rate has created an additional 1.7 million young adults that are not counted as "unemployed" by the U.S. Department of Labor because they are not in the labor force, meaning that those young people have given up looking for work due to the lack of jobs.
• The unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds is 11.6 percent (NSA). The unemployment rate for 18-29 year old African-Americans is 21 percent (NSA); the unemployment rate for 18-29 year old Hispanics is 11.7 percent (NSA); and the unemployment rate for 18–29 year old women is 10.6 percent (NSA).

Evan Feinberg, President of Generation Opportunity and one of the first Millennials to run for Congress, issued the following statement:

"Over the past five years Washington has promised us more jobs, affordable health care, and greater access to higher education for all Americans. They've approached each challenge with the same solution: more government and less freedom. What has it gotten us? The highest sustained levels of youth unemployment since World War II, sky-high tuition and student debt, and rising insurance premiums for everybody. Government solutions aren't solutions at all. The May jobs report is yet another reminder that Washington just doesn't get it."

Generation Opportunity is a national, non-partisan organization advocating for economic opportunity for young people through less government and more freedom.

Follow us on Twitter: @GenOpportunity

CONTACT: David Pasch – 202-230-7947 | EMAIL  

SOURCE Generation Opportunity