GCI Releases New Youth Jobless Report
Great Cities
As part of its ongoing commitment to provide timely research and data on youth employment in Chicago and Illinois, the Great Cities Institute (GCI) has released its latest data brief, “Youth Employment Data Brief: Racial and Geographic Inequities in Youth and Young Adult Joblessness and Disconnection in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, and the U.S., 2019–2023.” Commissioned by the Alternative Schools Network, this new report analyzes the most recent five years of census data to track trends in youth joblessness and disconnection from school and work, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, age, and geography.
Despite overall labor market improvements since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, recovery has been incomplete and uneven. Young people of color, especially Black and Latino youth in Chicago, remain disconnected from both work and school at alarmingly high rates. These persistent disparities threaten long-term economic mobility, community stability, and the future prospects of Chicago’s next generation.
A summary of key findings and the full report can be found on the Great Cities Institute website.