Jobs Report Shows Youth Unemployment Drop In Late 2012

The unemployment rate for millennials, ages 18 to 29, dropped by nearly two points in just three months, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Labor released on Friday.

The non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November 2012 among 18- to 29-year-olds was 10.9 percent, as calculated by Generation Opportunity, a right-leaning millennial advocacy group. Though that rate is higher than the national average of 7.7 percent, millennial unemployment is nearly two points lower than it was in August 2012, when the group's unemployment rate was at 12.7 percent.

Part of this can be attributed to the increase in service and retail employment, the sectors where young people most predominately find work. John M. Galvin, acting commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, said in a statement Friday that retail trade added 53,000 jobs in November, and 140,000 over the past three months.

For the 16- to 24-year-old bracket, the unemployment rate for November 2012 was 14.8 percent -- higher than the national average, but still a significant drop from the depths of the Great Recession. The unemployment rate for young adults ages 16 to 24 went from a low of 9.1 percent in December 2006 to a high of 20 percent in June 2010. Only a few months ago, in July 2012, it was 17.1 percent.

Youth unemployment is typically higher than the national average, as many young people are just starting their working careers and entering the workforce for the first time.