Employers are hiring 22-to-24-year-olds far less often than they used to, one more sign of a harder start for early-career workers.

New-hire rate of young workers relative to ages 35–54

Line chart, 1995 to 2025, of the new-hire rate of young workers relative to workers aged 35 to 54, shown as the percent above or below its 2015-19 average. A thick teal line for ages 22 to 24 and a thinner salmon line for ages 25 to 34 stay near or above zero from 1995 through 2016, including the 2001 and 2007-09 recessions, which are shaded. Both drift below zero in the late 2010s; the teal line spikes to about 6 percent above in 2021, then falls steeply to 13 percent below by the third quarter of 2025, while the salmon line ends 7 percent below.

Percent above or below the 2015–2019 average. New hires per job, four-quarter average, private sector, each age group relative to ages 35 to 54. Shaded areas: recessions. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Quarterly Workforce Indicators (release R2026Q3), and author’s calculations.

Hover or tap for values; click a legend entry to show or hide a line.

The teal line shows the new-hire rate of 22-to-24-year-olds, counting only hires by an employer they had not worked for in the past year using the wage records employers file every quarter and compiled by the Census Bureau. It is shown against the same rate for ages 35 to 54, whose hiring slowed too but by less. By Q3 2025 the teal line was 13% below its 2015-19 average. For workers aged 25 to 34 (salmon) it was 7% below.