Young Adults in the Job Market
Generational Disconnect: Young Adults Struggling to Find Jobs
Generational differences in perspective are nothing new, and views on the state of the job market are no exception. Many young adults are pessimistic about their employment prospects and believe they face greater challenges than previous generations. As seen in Chart 1¹, 64% of Americans think it is harder for young adults to find a job than it was for their parents. Older generations, however, are less likely to share that view. In fact, 41% of adults over 50 think it is the same or easier to find a job.
Chart 1
The current hiring environment disproportionately affects younger workers, who often depend on job openings to gain experience and establish their careers. Older workers, by contrast, are more likely to be firmly established in their professions and therefore less reliant on new hiring opportunities. The impacts of artificial intelligence may further the difficulty for younger adults to finds entry level positions as well.²
Workers aged 55 and older have an unemployment rate of 3.1%³, while the unemployment rate for those ages 20 to 24 is more than double that figure at 7.1%. With older workers staying in higher paid positions for longer it can be hard for younger workers to move up the ranks and find highly paid work.⁴
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2 Young Adult Workers in a ‘Low-Hire, Low-Fire’ Labor Market
3 Table A-10. Selected unemployment indicators, seasonally adjusted - 2026 M07 Results
4 Why Younger Workers Just Can’t Get Ahead
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