Sixteen percent of U.S. adults aged 18 to 24 were neither employed nor enrolled in school in 2024, and that rate remained essentially unchanged through December 2025 despite a generally healthy labor market, according to a new analysis published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in July 2026. The report, the third in a series examining labor market challenges for young adults, reveals that even a robust economy doesn't reach everyone equally. Disconnection rates varied sharply across demographic and geographic lines, and data from the American Time Use Survey shows that disconnected young adults aren't disengaged—they're constrained by caregiving and household responsibilities that compete directly with formal work and education.
Rural young adults faced the highest disconnection rates, with about one-fifth remaining disconnected both nationally and within the Eighth Federal Reserve District, which covers Arkansas, most of Missouri, and parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Educational attainment showed a strong correlation: young adults with at least some college had disconnection rates less than half of those whose education stopped at high school or before. Young Black adults experienced disconnection rates ranging from roughly 25% to 30%, regardless of geography—about double the rate of young white adults in principal cities in both national and district data. Family income followed similar patterns, with young adults from lower-income families more likely to be disconnected, and rural youth facing higher rates than metro youth at nearly every income level.
The report finds that disconnected young adults have a higher likelihood of performing household activities, providing care for children or other household members, and pursuing job searches, interviews, and informal income-generating work compared to their connected peers. According to the analysis, disconnected young adults who report caregiving responsibilities disproportionately engage in physical care for children or others in the household, and they spend more time on household tasks like food preparation and cleaning. Within work-related activities, they're more likely to engage in job search, interviewing, and informal income generation such as selling goods or providing small services. Patterns of socializing and recreation, however, look similar for both connected and disconnected young adults—disconnection doesn't appear associated with markedly different leisure behavior.
The report concludes that the evidence points to constraints on how time can be allocated rather than disengagement or inactivity. Time spent caring for children or older parents competes directly with time available for formal work or education, and informal income-generating activities represent attempts to earn money when formal job opportunities are limited or difficult to access. The authors write that labor market strength does not have the same effect for everyone, and that understanding the pathways to connection is essential for maximizing labor force attachment and growing productivity in the economy. Even when aggregate indicators look strong, persistent structural challenges related to access, geography, and opportunity shape how easily young adults can connect to work or education—and those barriers remain firmly in place.