Remote Work Leaves Younger Workers Sidelined

Natalia Emanuel, Emma Harrington and Amanda Pallais ()

No 20260601, Liberty Street Economics from Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Abstract: Youth unemployment has risen dramatically since the pandemic—as has the prevalence of remote work. Our analysis suggests that these trends are related, with remote work making it more difficult for managers to train and mentor new employees. Accordingly, companies may be reluctant to hire less-experienced workers in distributed work arrangements. We estimate that remote work can explain 64 percent of the recent increase in unemployment among young college graduates. Further, the timing of this surge suggests that remote work—not generative AI—explains the bulk of the rise in youth unemployment.

Keywords: remote work; unemployment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06-01
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fednls:103346

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DOI: 10.59576/lse.20260601

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