The share of young adults who are not engaged in work or education has gone down gradually in recent decades and is now at its lowest point in 30 years (13.7 percent), according to a recent survey from Pew Research Center.

The downward trend in this figure—sometimes referred to as the “disconnection rate”—reflects in part the nation’s tight labor markets and falling unemployment, but also higher levels of engagement among young women. In 2018, only 14.4 percent of 18- to 24-year-old women were neither working nor enrolled in school, down from 21.7 percent in 1989.

A similar share of young men (13 percent) were not working or going to school in 2018. This is up marginally from 11.2 percent in 1989, but the share has fluctuated substantially over that period, peaking at 18.6 percent in 2010 in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

More young women are in school or working today compared with 30 years ago in part because fewer of them are mothers. Some 12.5 percent of 18- to 24-year-old women lived with a child in 2018, down from 25.0 percent in 1989. This is largely attributable to the dramatic decline in teen births in recent years. Young women who are mothers are more likely to be disconnected from education and work.