Washington
CNN
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Cam Tangalakis-Lippert has submitted hundreds of job applications since she was fired from her software engineering gig at Twitch a year ago. The 25-year-old, resident of Sacramento told CNN that she is a few months away from running out of money.
Tangalakis-Lippert is one of the millions of Americans in their 20s who are struggling to find a job these days. In 2024, businesses were extremely slow to hire as workers left jobs less often – a phenomenon known as the “Great Attitude”.
Those conditions are expected to remain largely the same this year, according to economists, keeping young Americans from getting their foot in the door or getting back on their feet after layoffs. Studies show that early setbacks in an employee’s career can affect their lifetime earnings, mental health and career development.
“It’s been excruciating,” Tangalakis-Lippert said. “I’m no longer focusing all my energy on trying to find a software engineering job. I applied for a job at Best Buy, every grocery store.”
“It feels really bad to go from $100,000 a year to maybe working minimum wage,” she added.
The US labor market overall remains on a solid footing, with unemployment at a low of 4.1% as employers continue to add jobs at a brisk pace.
But it has slowed steadily over the past two years, normalizing from the peak in 2022, when there was a record 12.2 million openings. As a result, there was unusually slow movement in the labor market last year: The rate at which Americans were hired fell to 2013 levels — with white-collar industries and manufacturing pulling back the most — as the quit rate work remained below pre-pandemic levels. .
This slower movement has had a big impact on younger workers.
Employment of workers ages 25 to 34 saw the second-largest annual decline in December across all age groups, according to Labor Department data released Friday. Employment among those 20-24 was down slightly that month. Meanwhile, for the 35-44 and 45-54 groups, employment has increased in the same period.
Young workers in certain industries may be in for a particularly difficult year.
“In those kinds of sedentary jobs, or white-collar jobs, it’s going to continue to be difficult for those recent graduates or young unemployed people,” said Andrew Flowers, an economist at recruitment marketing firm Appcast. The flowers indicated ongoing problems in the technology industry. “We are already at full employment and one of the consequences of that is that the employment rate slows down.”
Alexander Bloukos graduated in August with a master’s degree in international political economy from the London School of Economics, but has not found a job. He has submitted hundreds of applications over the past few months, giving only a few dozen interviews, he told CNN.
The 23-year-old, who lives with his parents in Boston, said friends around his age have faced the same challenges.
“I think we’re just getting stacked by people with more experience,” Bloukos said. “It’s kind of depressing, but you just have to find a way to keep moving forward.”
Youth employment may eventually increase if the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates. The central bank has already made three rate cuts since September.
“Lower borrowing costs are actually translating into improved affordability and more business activity,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. “The labor market lags behind those kinds of improvements in economic conditions and business activity, but not that much. If these improvements are sustained, you will see employment pick up in the coming months and that will lead to more job shifts.”
The outlook varies by industry. Pollak said finance employment could increase this year due to expected deregulation and a more favorable environment for mergers and acquisitions.
However, Wall Street is not pricing in additional rate cuts until the end of the year, based on the limited progress in inflation in recent months. The economy’s resilience in the face of high borrowing costs also suggests that Fed officials need not rush to cut interest rates further.
And even if employment picks up, it may take some time to help new workers.
“Young workers, women, black workers, they’re often the last ones in and the first ones in, so it usually takes a while before their conditions improve,” Pollak said. “Let’s say that job openings and net job gains start to increase six months from now. It will take another three to six months after that before marginalized groups start to see any meaningful benefits.”
