How Are “Disconnected” Young Adults Spending Their Time?

This is the third blog post in a three-part series that explores labor market challenges and opportunities for young adults.

Over the past few years, the U.S. labor market has looked robust. In two earlier blog posts,The first two blog posts in this series discussed opportunities for young adults in a “low-hire, low-fire” labor market and labor supply and demand factors that can shape outcomes for young workers, respectively. we showed that young adults are the first to struggle when hiring slows, even when the labor market appears generally healthy. Why, then, if the labor market has been strong, are so many young adults still disconnected from work and school? The answer is that while a tight labor market helps, it does not help everyone in the same way. Beneath strong aggregate indicators lie persistent structural challenges related to access, geography and opportunity that shape how easily young adults can connect to work or education.

What Does Disconnection Look Like for Young Adults?

At any point in time, a substantial share of young adults—that is, 18- to 24-year-olds—are neither employed nor enrolled in school, a group we refer to as “disconnected.”Other terms often used to describe this group include “not in education, employment or training” (NEET), if participation in training is an option, and “opportunity youth.” Young adult disconnection varies across the population.

Our October 2024 report measured the overall disconnection rate among U.S. young adults at 16%. An update to some of the key findings from our report suggests their disconnection rate has remained essentially unchanged,The October 2024 report pooled Current Population Survey microdata from January 2017 to June 2024. Our update pools Current Population Survey microdata from April 2023, when U.S. labor market tightness peaked, to December 2025. even amid a labor market that has stayed relatively strong. Geography continues to play a central role: About one-fifth of young adults living in rural areas remained disconnected, both nationally and within the Eighth Federal Reserve District.Headquartered in St. Louis, the Eighth District covers all of Arkansas, most of Missouri, and parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Educational attainment is strongly associated with connection. Young adults with at least some college had disconnection rates less than half of those of peers whose education stopped with a high school diploma or before. Regardless of geography, young Black adults experienced higher rates of disconnection than young white adults and young Hispanic adults,This group comprises Current Population Survey respondents identifying as Hispanic or Latino regardless of race. with rates ranging roughly from 25% to 30%. In both national and Eighth District data, disconnection among young Black adults living in principal citiesPrincipal cities are the largest city in the more than 250 metro areas we examined. remained about double that of young white adults.

Family income follows familiar patterns. Young adults from lower-income families were more likely to be disconnected, and rural young adults faced higher disconnection rates than young adults in metro areas at nearly every income level. While higher family income reduces the likelihood of disconnection, it does not eliminate geographic gaps.

What Are Disconnected Young Adults Actually Doing?

The word “disconnected” suggests withdrawn or inactive. However, the American Time Use Survey provides a much more nuanced story of how disconnected young adults spend their time.The American Time Use Survey is sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and conducted annually by the U.S. Census Bureau. Most of the broad categories of activity tracked by the survey are represented in the two figures in this blog post. Two such categories, Work and Work-Related Activities and Education, are used to construct the formal “disconnection” measure in the literature. Many are quite interested in the time some spend texting, gaming and FaceTiming. These categories are not explicitly listed in the survey’s documentation, which does, however, provide guidance on how they should be coded. For example, texting and internet voice/video calls are in the Phone category (technically the Telephone Calls category). Ordering food is placed in the Consumer Purchases category, and texting for a work reason goes in the Work and Work-Related Activities category. Video gaming is in the Social, Relaxing and Leisure category, where it is labeled a primary leisure activity. Gaming can also show up in the Computer-Specific Time Use subgroup if the respondent reports using the computer for leisure. Finally, gig work can be categorized in three ways. First, it can be under Income-Generating Activities, which occurs if the work is not part of a person’s main or second job. Second, gig work gets coded in the Work category as the respondent’s main job if the person considers their gig work to be their primary occupation. Third, gig work gets classified in the Work category under Other Job(s) if the respondent has a main job but does gig work on the side as a second job. Disconnected young adults are, in fact, highly active; compared with their connected peers, they 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. Rather than disengagement, the evidence points to constraints on how time can be allocated. Time spent caring for children or older parents, for example, competes directly with time available for formal work or education.

Disconnected young adults who report having caregiving responsibilities disproportionately engage in physical care for children or others in the household. (See the following figure.) Similarly, disconnected young adults spend more time on household activities, such as food preparation, cleaning and related tasks, which typically are not captured in labor market statistics. Connected young adults are significantly less likely to devote time to these areas.

Disconnected young adults are not absent from educational and work-related effort. Within work and work-related activities, they are more likely to engage in job search, interviewing and informal income-generating activities, such as selling goods, providing small services and pursuing other efforts aimed at earning money outside of traditional employment. These activities share a common thread: They are attempts to generate income when formal job opportunities are limited or difficult to access.

By contrast, patterns of socializing and recreation look similar for connected and disconnected young adults. (See the next figure.) Disconnection does not appear to be associated with markedly different leisure behavior; instead, it reflects differences in how responsibilities and opportunities shape daily choices.

The Bottom Line

Labor market strength does not have the same effect for everyone. Even in a robust labor market, many young people—particularly young adults living in rural areas, young Black adults and people who have caregiving commitments—are not fully connected to employment and education opportunities. Understanding the pathways to connection is essential for maximizing labor force attachment and growing productivity in the economy.

Notes

1. The first two blog posts in this series discussed opportunities for young adults in a “low-hire, low-fire” labor market and labor supply and demand factors that can shape outcomes for young workers, respectively.
2. Other terms often used to describe this group include “not in education, employment or training” (NEET), if participation in training is an option, and “opportunity youth.”
3. The October 2024 report pooled Current Population Survey microdata from January 2017 to June 2024. Our update pools Current Population Survey microdata from April 2023, when U.S. labor market tightness peaked, to December 2025.
4. Headquartered in St. Louis, the Eighth District covers all of Arkansas, most of Missouri, and parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee.
5. This group comprises Current Population Survey respondents identifying as Hispanic or Latino regardless of race.
6. Principal cities are the largest city in the more than 250 metro areas we examined.
7. The American Time Use Survey is sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and conducted annually by the U.S. Census Bureau. Most of the broad categories of activity tracked by the survey are represented in the two figures in this blog post. Two such categories, Work and Work-Related Activities and Education, are used to construct the formal “disconnection” measure in the literature. Many are quite interested in the time some spend texting, gaming and FaceTiming. These categories are not explicitly listed in the survey’s documentation, which does, however, provide guidance on how they should be coded. For example, texting and internet voice/video calls are in the Phone category (technically the Telephone Calls category). Ordering food is placed in the Consumer Purchases category, and texting for a work reason goes in the Work and Work-Related Activities category. Video gaming is in the Social, Relaxing and Leisure category, where it is labeled a primary leisure activity. Gaming can also show up in the Computer-Specific Time Use subgroup if the respondent reports using the computer for leisure. Finally, gig work can be categorized in three ways. First, it can be under Income-Generating Activities, which occurs if the work is not part of a person’s main or second job. Second, gig work gets coded in the Work category as the respondent’s main job if the person considers their gig work to be their primary occupation. Third, gig work gets classified in the Work category under Other Job(s) if the respondent has a main job but does gig work on the side as a second job.