New York Fed to Release Research on the Role of Remote Work in Youth Unemployment

NEW YORK-On Monday, June 1 at 10:30 AM ET, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will release a Liberty Street Economics post on the role remote work is playing in the rise of youth unemployment.

Unemployment among young college graduates has risen significantly since the pandemic. The March 2026 unemployment rate for recent college graduates aged 22 to 27 was 5.6 percent, up from 3.6 percent in March 2019.

The upcoming post looks at how much of the increase can be explained by remote work, given the challenges of learning from colleagues in remote settings. Additionally, the piece touches on whether generative AI plays a role in the uptick in youth unemployment. It also looks at patterns at the firm level, using proprietary data from a Fortune 500 company.

The main findings on youth unemployment in this blog are based on Current Population Survey data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and a commonly used index of how easily the tasks required for a given job can be done remotely.

Press Call on Research on the Role of Remote Work in Youth Unemployment: An author of the blog will host a deep background press call on Monday, June 1, at 9:30 AM ET to provide further context on the research. Journalists interested in participating should RSVP to Ellen Simon at the New York Fed, [email protected].