It’s tough for young Americans to find a job right now. Blame ‘the Great Stay’

Over the past two years, Kirsten Staple has submitted more than 500 job applications. At first she applied to jobs related to her 2022 bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Over the past two years, Kirsten Staple has submitted more than 500 job applications. At first she applied to jobs related to her 2022 bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Texas at San Antonio. But that didn’t land her any positions, so she recently started applying for anything full-time while living with her parents in El Paso, Texas, including at grocery stores. She still hasn’t found a job. Staple’s plight highlights the unusually difficult situation of young Americans trying to kick-start their careers, even as the broader US economy remains in good shape. Unemployment remains historically low, employers continue to hire at a brisk pace and there are still more job openings than at any point before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to government figures that economists and policymakers pore over to understand the labor market. But other data shows a tougher reality for younger job seekers: The share of workers aged 20-24 out of the total working-age population declined the most of any age group in September from a year earlier, according to Labor Department data, followed by a slightly smaller decline among those aged 25-34. The share of job seekers between 18 and 24 who said they took more than a year to find a job tripled in the third quarter of this year compared to late 2022, according to ZipRecruiter survey data provided to CNN. Economists say workers who experience career setbacks so early on face potential losses in lifetime earnings, in addition to missing out on valuable learning experiences in the first few years of a career.