Table
Employment of young workers, by select industries, 2019–2023
| Employment | Share of industry category | Change | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industry (share of total, 2023) | 2019 | 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 | 1,238,626 | 40.4% | 37.0% | -132,920 | -9.7% |
| Colleges and universities, including junior colleges | 695,153 | 544,281 | 50.7% | 43.9% | -150,872 | -21.7% |
| Elementary and secondary schools | 513,604 | 533,477 | 37.5% | 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 | 3,746,381 | 78.9% | 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 | 727,167 | 43.9% | 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 | 965,104 | 91.0% | 92.3% | 291,078 | 43.2% |
| Couriers and messengers | 190,173 | 348,352 | 28.2% | 36.1% | 158,179 | 83.2% |
| Warehousing and storage | 130,536 | 229,254 | 19.4% | 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 | 3,723,844 | 93.0% | 93.9% | 133,173 | 3.7% |
| Wholesale trade | 272,174 | 242,006 | 7.1% | 6.1% | -30,168 | -11.1% |
Note: 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.
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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