Sunday, November 14, 2010

Analyze this graph for me. Why have 16 to 19 year olds been dropping out of the labor force so dramtically for the last 10 years? Any ideas?

I am curious about this graph, especially the purple and red lines. The graph shows the Labor Force Participation Rate (for each group, the number employed or are who are looking for a job, divided by the number of people in that age group times 100) for different age groups. The red line is for ages 16 to 19 and the puple line is for ages 55 and over.  They intersect in late 2009. The slope of the line becomes much steeper for the 16 to 19 age group, indicating a rapidly declining participation rate for this age group. Now, go back to when this trend started to appear, approximately January 2001.  At this point, we can see there is a rather dramatic downward trend in the 16-19  participation rate.  Why did this happen?  What changed in our economy/society to create this trend? I have my guess, but will give extra credit for good responses.   

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1 comment:

  1. Brendon PalmerNovember 18, 2010 at 12:20 AM

    I think that the teen participation is going down because of a state of mind. The economy is seeing hard times which means fewer jobs are out there to be had, and this means much greater competition among teens and the older people. Many teens are not willing to fight for these because there is not a severe need for the job. Many teens are also becoming more and more dependent on their parents and do not need to go find a job to get the money they need. While teens are the biggest reason for the decline they are not the only reason. With the loss of jobs and fewer openings businesses want older skilled workers to fill the positions. This lack of hiring further discourages teens and makes the teen participation rate continue to fall even through today.

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