U.S. Unemployment remains at multi-year low as employers continue adding … – NYC Today

The U.S. unemployment remained at 5.4% for April on a seasonally adjusted basis, marking the lowest level in seven years. The jobs added during April were lower than analyst expectations but still the indicators are strong for the strength in the U.S. job market. Also, an increase in average wage has been noticed during the recent economic data released by U.S. agencies. The U.S. department of Labor said that the job market has remained strong over the last three quarters, indicating higher hiring prospectus in all the sectors.

According to Friday's jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the data has not changed much in April, compared to the figures noticed during March 2015. However, the current unemployment rate at 5.4 percent is nearly 4.6-percent lower compared to unemployment recorded during October 2009, when it peaked at 10%.

But if you're a teenager or young adult, you're much less likely to have seen significant job market improvement compared with older adults. Our analysis of the latest employment data finds that last month, more than half (50.9%) of the nation's nearly 8 million unemployed people are between the ages of 16 and 34 – even though that group makes up just over a third of the civilian labor force.

In a sense, though, that disparity represents a return to normal patterns. The youngest age cohorts consistently have the highest unemployment rates – at least since 2000, which is as far back as we ran the numbers. And while unemployment soared among all age groups during the Great Recession, the youngest workers were hit exceptionally hard: In 2010, unemployment averaged 25.8% among 16- to 19-year-olds, and 15.5% among 20- to 24-year-olds. (While these age-specific data aren't adjusted for seasonal variations, they only include people working or actively looking for work – not, for instance, people who aren't counted as part of the labor force because they're still in school.)

The recession, in fact, acted to spread out unemployment a bit more evenly across age groups. At the peak of the previous business cycle, in December 2007, 53.2% of the unemployed were ages 16 to 34, and 35.4% were ages 35 to 54. In January 2010, when non-seasonally adjusted unemployment peaked, the youngest adults' share had fallen to 47.4%, while the 35-to-54 share rose to 38.9%.

Since then, unemployment has come down sharply across all age groups, but it's fallen the least for – you guessed it – the youngest workers. The unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds last month was 15.6%, a 42% decrease from the level in January 2010. Among 35- to 69-year-olds, who account for more than three-fifths of the civilian labor force, just 3.9% were unemployed in April, a 55% decline from the January 2010 level; there were only minor variations within that older group.

Many big companies including Wal-Mart and McDonald's have announced wage hikes for employees in the coming months. With an employer as big as Wal-Mart announcing wage hikes, the impact could be felt on the whole industry. Lower unemployment also helps in improving the consumer sentiment. With strong consumer sentiment, the business owner sentiment also improves and results in higher demand for workers as businesses plan expansion.