US youth jobless rate highest in 6 decades

A new study by the Pew Research Center shows American young adults are the hardest hit by the US economic recession as unemployment rate among them has reached a record high.

According to the survey, only 54 percent of Americans aged between 18 and 34 currently have jobs, the lowest employment rate since the US government started keeping track of the data in 1948.

“Young workers are on the bottom of the ladder, and during a recession like we’ve had, it’s often hard for them to hold on,” said Kim Parker, the associate director of Pew’s Social & Demographic Trends project.

Parker noted that American youth “are clearly less satisfied with their current circumstances than they were before the recession.”

“This may be where some of the anger and frustration being expressed in the Occupy movement is rooted,” she added.

Pew survey also found that US young adults have suffered bigger income losses than other age groups.

The US Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke has expressed concerns over the status of the country’s economy, saying the unusually high levels of long-term unemployment in the US are worrisome.

More than 40 percent of the US jobless have been out of work for at least ten months.