Almost 1 in 5 young adults in the U.S. was neither working nor studying in the first quarter as Black and Hispanic youth remain idle at disproportionate rates.
In the first three months of the year, about 3.8 million Americans age 20 to 24 were not in employment, education or training, known as the NEET rate, the Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR) said in a report. That’s up by 740,000, or 24%, from a year earlier, before many lost their jobs or opted to defer college enrollment as campuses shut down at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inactive youth is a worrying sign for the future of the economy, as they don’t gain critical job skills to help realize their future earnings potential. Further, high NEET rates may foster environments that are fertile for social unrest.