Marked improvement during the spring months and at the end of the year wiped out recessioninduced cutbacks in the workweek which had occurred in the last half of 1960 and early 1961. By December 1961, virtually all of the 800,000 increase in "economic" part-time employment that had occurred during the recession had disappeared, after allowance for seasonal variation. The improvement in the latter half of 1961 principally affected adult men whose workweek had been cut back to less than 35 hours during the downturn of the business cycle.

The

For the year as a whole, there were 2.8 million nonagricultural workers on part-time workweeks for involuntary economic reasons-about 250,000 more than in 1960. This included 1.3 million who usually work full time but whose hours of work had been cut to less than 35 owing to slack work, material shortages, or other economic reasons. This total compared with an annual average of 1.2 million in 1960 and 1.0 million in 1959. number of workers in this group-which mirrors changes in the general level of economic activity— reached its high for 1961 (about 11⁄2 million-both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted) in the first quarter and showed marked improvement by the fourth quarter. They accounted for 2.1 percent of the labor force (seasonally adjusted) in the first quarter and only 1.6 percent in the last quarter of 1961. However, despite the overall improvement in employment and hours, about 1 million regular full-time workers were still on part time for economic reasons at the end of 1961. This was roughly equal to the prerecession (May 1960) level, after allowance for seasonal variation.

An average of 11⁄2 million nonfarm workers in 1961 reported they usually worked part time because they could not find full-time jobs. This group was 200,000 larger than in 1960 and approximately 600,000 more than the 1956-57 average. There were more people in this category in 1961 than in any of the preceding 6 years (the entire period for which these data are available). The alltime high for this series (on a seasonally adjusted basis) was reached in May 1961, when over 1.6 million workers wanted but could not find full-time jobs. The 1961 recovery affected this group much less than those on part time who usually worked full time.

Two-thirds of the regular full-time nonfarm workers who worked part time in 1961-6.2 out

At 74.2 million in 1961, the total labor for (including the Armed Forces) showed an increase of 1 million workers over 1960 despite an app ciable slackening in the rate of annual growt during the last quarter of 1961. For the year as a whole, there were on the average 49.9 millio men and 24.3 million women in the labor fore (table 5). This represented over-the-year gaire of about 400,000 and 600,000, respectively. E 1961, as throughout the postwar period, wome accounted for about three-fifths of the growth in labor force (chart 7) although they currently represent only about one-third of the total work force. Since 1950, their labor force participation rate has increased from 33 to 37 percent.

A continuation of postwar trends affecting men at both extremes of the working age spec

1 Downturn is measured from quarter including prerecession peak month of business cycle to quarter including trough month of cycle. Recovery is measured from quarter including trough month of business cycle to third quarter following.

2 Average of percent of civilian labor force unemployed in (1) quarter containing trough month and (2) 3d quarter after trough.

2. No further increase in the rate of labor force participation of women 45 years of age and over between the fourth quarters of 1960 and 1961. Since the end of World War II, the number of women of these ages in the labor force has doubled (averaging about 91⁄2 million in 1961) and their average annual labor force participation rate has climbed from 23 to 34 percent. Women 45 and over have accounted for three-fifths of the gain in the female labor force over the past 15 years but only two-fifths in 1961.

3. The long-term decline in the labor force participation rates of teenage boys continued in 1961-dropping from 42 to 39 percent between the fourth quarters of 1960 and 1961. Part of this decline may be due to the decrease in employment

in agriculture (where many teenage boys & employed)."

4. Between the fourth quarters of 1960 and 191 the number of men 65 and over in the labor fore dropped by nearly 200,000. During this perico their rate of labor force participation fell from 35. to 30.3 percent. This appears to be due to significant expansion and liberalization of bo private and public pension plans in recent years!

Labor Force Growth as Related to Unemployme": It has sometimes been argued that if job oppor! tunities are plentiful, labor force growth will be large and vice versa. Presumably, as unemploy ment increases, potential entrants into the labe market defer their entrance because of the lack of job opportunities. However, an examinatiet of postwar labor force and unemployment date! does not support this contention. In the thre most recent postwar recessions, the civilian labe force (seasonally adjusted) rose by substantia amounts (ranging from 600,000 in 1957-58 to 1: million in 1960-61) at times when unemploymer was also increasing (table 6). In addition, during the recovery phase of these cycles (the first three quarters following that in which the recession reached its trough), the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force continued to grow by approxi mately the same amount as in the downswing except that, during the 1961 recovery, it registere a decline of about 400,000.

See "The Employment of Students, October 1961," pp. 635-642 of the issue, which will be reprinted with additional tables as Special Labor For Report No. 22.

'he Employment of tudents, October 1961

CARL ROSENFELD*

UCH OF THE CONCERN during the past few years th the general upward movement of unemployent has focused on the particularly high levels nong young persons, especially those no longer school. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found at unemployment among young people of school e (14 to 24 years old) in October 1961 was at a cord high when compared with previous annual rveys of employment of students and other ung persons. At that time, 10 out of every 100 uths in the civilian labor force were out of work, usual, double the rate for persons 25 years and er.

The increase in rate was about the same r both groups in recent years.

This article traces recent trends in unemployent among young persons in and out of school, dicates some of the factors responsible for their ck of work, and shows the occupations in which e youth are employed. It also explores some of e implications of the findings of the current rvey in the light of prospective manpower velopments.

ends in Unemployment

About 1 million young men and women between e ages of 14 and 24 years who were not in school re looking for work in October 1961 (table 1). is total, which included those who completed zh school as well as those who dropped out fore graduating, was 100,000 more than a year rlier. The increase resulted from both the addin of 300,000 of these young workers to the >or market and a small rise in their unemploynt rate. In addition, 300,000 students (about ,000 more than a year before) were looking for >s at which they could work after school or on ekends.

The jobless youths were competing in a job rket which was still feeling the effects of the 30-61 recession. The overall unemployment e had been hovering around 6-7 percent asonally adjusted) for a year when the current vey was made.

The high unemployment rate appeared to be a continuation of the general postwar uptrend. After each postwar recession, unemployment stabilized at higher levels than after the previous one. Following the 1948-49 recession, the jobless rate was about 3 percent during 1951-53; subsequent to the 1953-54 recession, it was over 4 percent; and it averaged about 5.5 percent after the 195758 recession.2 Employment of nonfarm wage and salary workers, which had fallen about 1 million from the 1960 peak to the trough in February 1961, had, by October, recovered only to the extent of the loss.

The total number of unemployed persons in October 1961 was nearly twice as large as in the same month in 1956. The percent increase over this 5-year period was approximately the same for youths both in and out of school as for persons aged 25 years and over. However, the rates of unemployment rose less sharply than the number unemployed, because the labor force also increased for these three groups (table 2).

Between 1956 and 1961, the civilian labor force expanded by 4 million to an average of 71.6 million. During the next 5 years, the increase is expected to be even greater, owing in part to entrance into the labor market of many young people born after World War II.

Incidence of Unemployment in 1961

The incidence of unemployment is always much higher for young persons no longer in school who have only recently started their job careers than for those still in school or the older and more experienced workers. In October 1961, 11 percent of the youths 14 to 24 years old not in school were looking for work, compared with 8 percent

*Of the Division of Manpower and Employment Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

1 The survey of students' employment in October 1960 was analyzed in the Monthly Labor Review, July 1961, pp. 706–714, and reprinted as Special Labor Force Report No. 16. Previous surveys of the labor force status of young persons were summarized in the Monthly Labor Review, July 1960, pp. 705-709 (Special Labor Force Report No. 6), and by the Bureau of the Census in Current Population Reports, Series P-50, Nos. 90, 83, 71, 64, 58, 51, 47, 41, 32, 23, and 14. Basic data for school enrollment appear in the Bureau of the Census Current Population Reports, Series P-20.

For a discussion of recent labor force trends, see "Labor Force and Employment in 1961," pp. 621-634 of this issue, which will be reprinted, with additional data, as Special Labor Force Report No. 23.

Examination of causes of unemployment is contained in Unemployment: Terminology, Measurement, and Analysis and Higher Unemployment Rates, 1957-60: Structural Transformation or Inadequate Demand (Subcommittee on Economic Statistics of the Joint Economic Committee, 87th Cong., 1st Sess., 1961).

of those still in school and more than 4 percent of persons 25 years old and over. Some of the reasons for the higher unemployment rate for youths not enrolled in school than for older workers are that young persons are more likely to be employed in marginal jobs and in occupations where layoffs or separations are most frequent and that they have not earned enough seniority to protect themselves against layoffs. Relatively more out-of-school youth than older workers were employed as operatives and farm and nonfarm laborers, who consistently have the highest unemployment rates, and a much smaller proportion were in professional and managerial jobs, which are among the occupations having the lowest jobless rates. Also, during their early years in the labor market, when many youngsters do not know what kind of work they want or what they are qualified for, they are more likely to quit a job they dislike and shop around for one which appears more suitable.

Unemployment was particularly high among youths who had dropped out of school before graduating from high school; they accounted for about half of the 1 million unemployed youths no longer in school. Apparently, they were finding the lack of a high school education and a marketable skill a handicap in their jobseeking. The problems of many of them were probably complicated by poor work habits and attitudes and lack

3

of self-confidence. Nearly 15 percent of th dropouts were unemployed in October 1961. 19 rate one and one-half times that for high schoots graduates. The very high rate of unemployme among school-leavers represents a serious economer loss not only to the individuals concerned but society as well. One aspect of the loss is the school dropouts, many of whom have abono average intelligence, fail to develop more fiya their intellectual and skill potentialities.

Among young persons who combine work wi school, the prevalence of unemployment varie by the type of school in which the student enrolled. Persons attending college full time we more likely to be unemployed than part-tim college students, primarily because of the differe types of jobs they usually hold (table 3). Near all persons who attend college a few hours a wee were working at full-time jobs which are likely require more skill than the part-time or inte mittent jobs most frequently held by full-tim students.

Unemployment rates are consistently highe among 16- and 17-year-old boys and girls the among older teenagers and youths in their ear twenties, regardless of school status. For example {| 21 percent of the 16- and 17-year-old youths whe

For additional data on unemployment among dropouts, see "Empi ment of High School Graduates and Dropouts in 1961,” Monthly Lav Review, May 1962, pp. 502–509.