Employment of Young vs Old: 2004-2008

Inspired by last week’s graph on Job Loss by Age, I created this 5 year comparison of the number of employed 16-17 year olds to number of workers above 75. There are two methods for measuring 16-17 year olds: not seasonally adjusted and seasonally adjusted which removes the effects of events like summer employment that follow a more or less regular pattern each year.

{Click on the image to take a closer look}

Unemployment magnifying glass

Data from Bureau of Labor Statistics

[tags]United States, Unemployment[/tags]

Popularity: 2% [?]

3 Responses to “Employment of Young vs Old: 2004-2008”


  • It’s a nice comparison. Curious though how it will be adjusted in early 2009 with pensioners needing to go back to work given life-savings that have been wiped out. I wonder what the 16-17 yr old population has been doing over the past several years that they’re working less consistently. Is it because of the change in volunteering trends? I don’t think that’s the likely reason, but I’m curious.

  • It is also possible that the very young (unskilled and inexperienced) have the most trouble getting jobs when they become scarce. My next post looks at 24-54 vs 55 & over and the ratio between the two which has been decreasing, maybe due to aging baby boomers?

  • Hello. Great job. This is a great post. Thanks!

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