Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, tells Teen Vogue that, over the past few years, unemployment has been low and workers, particularly those who had less power in the labor market, have had a bit more leverage. Young and lower-wage workers have seen faster wage growth since 2019 than they saw in the roughly 40 years prior.
But under the Trump administration, there have been mass layoffs of federal government employees, the cancellation of funding and grant opportunities at universities, and possible price increases for basic items due to new tariffs on imported goods. “Now we enter a period of a little bit more economic insecurity,” Gould says.
Meanwhile, Gould notes, there’s less “churn” — workers aren’t quitting or switching jobs at the rates they were in recent years. She explains that, often, the best way to see faster wage growth is to get an outside option: Find a new job or get an offer and use it as leverage to negotiate a better salary. “But now there are a lot of workers staying put,” she continues, “so those openings are not coming up for newer entrants to be able to get into those jobs.”
The wage levels many young people face are so low that it can be challenging to move out on one’s own, buy a car, start a family, or pursue higher education. “So those struggles are real,” Gould says. In addition, a 2024 analysis from the Economic Policy Institute found that the unemployment and underemployment rates of Black, Hispanic, and AAPI young high school graduates are higher than their white peers.