Survive under 25: How young people are faring in today's job market

Kaylie Berggren has been looking for new work since April, when her last employer let her go, applying over 50 times to different places in the last two weeks alone. She's also gone around in person with no luck so far, except a pair of interviews with local businesses.

A slow job market - or what economists are calling a low-hire, low-fire market - coupled with Berggren's troubled childhood and early adulthood, like when she spent two years at Echo Glen Children's Center, a juvenile detention center in King County, and survived an abusive partner, the odds seem stacked against her.

Berggren, 25, has still been working in one place or another - Spokane, Morro Bay in California and now Wenatchee - since she was 18 as an at-risk homeless youth.

She's not alone in her struggles to find work while also attending Wenatchee Valley College as a student.

Whether at a juice bar in Chelan, a caregiver at a memory care unit, an Uber driver or a construction worker, finding employment anywhere is a universal task for everyone coming out of school in the United States.

Stepping into your early career or striving to make a living to avoid homelessness, each young adult will need to find a job that pays enough to meet their daily expenses.

But unlike someone in their 40s, deep into a career or profession, any kid hopes that finding work at the start of it all - with the unique challenges inherent in the beginning when they have very little to show for work experience - may hope it'll be easier now than it was for their parents.

The Wenatchee World reached out to people ages 15 to 25 to share their experiences finding employment in the Wenatchee Valley and beyond.

Things don't really look much better.

First jobs

Youngsters from ages 16 to 25 - the youngest groups in the workforce examined in the American Community Survey - represent a small portion of the total workforce in the Wenatchee Valley, with the same trend nationally.

Here in Chelan County, the group represented about 12% of the total workforce, according to the 2024 American Community Survey. Many of them are high schoolers and some are still in college.

Labor force participation spikes between April and July as kids get out of school or graduates enter the market in earnest, looking for permanent employment, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Abby Ludwig, a 17-year-old senior from Chelan, is one such precocious student who, from an early age, has looked to a job to be a little more self-sufficient than before - paying for her own gas or to pay for the sheep she raises or just to have her own pocket money while out with friends.

She's already had several - and many times from just asking for a job somewhere she was interested in working.

"I love being busy," Ludwig said. "I love having things to do and I love talking to people. And so it's kind of just fun for me to do all these things and then like make these connections."

Ludwig has a plan: Go to Washington State University to study animal science on a pre-veterinary track. She's already on her way, having interned at Lakeland Veterinary Clinic in Manson.

For any other kids her age, she recommends making any connections with people wherever possible, like at school clubs.

"Get involved," she said. "Whether that be in your school, in a club, in your community, whatever," she said. "Because the reason I'm so comfortable with going out and asking for a job is because I've had to ask people to buy my animals to have a say through (the National FFA Organization), I've become so comfortable with going out and asking people for things that it just doesn't phase me."

But across the state, the labor market has slowed considerably, according to Michael McBride, the North Central and Northeast Washington labor economist for the state Employment Security Department.

"We have been seeing the slowing market for people finding jobs and being able to find available jobs, including entry-level work, which the younger population skews into," he said.

A low-hire, low-fire

The number of people in some kind of "long-term unemployment" is slowly ticking upwards. So the narrative, across the nation, not just here, is around a "low hire, low fire" market.

Outside of the nationally covered mass layoffs, the majority of businesses are not doing huge layoffs but are also not hiring a lot of people, either, according to McBride.

"It's just at a standstill in a lot of regards, and people are less likely to change their job in that situation," he said. "So there's less churn in the economy, in the job market."

As of March 2026, about 3.5% of nonfarm employees nationwide were new hires and the number of departures was a rate of 3.4%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

McBride explained that fewer people are being let go or leaving and employers are hiring fewer employees.

Data from ADP Research shows that the median pay growth from employees sticking with their current employer versus pay growth from switching jobs is about the same.

In April, the year-to-year annual pay change was about 4.4% for "job stayers" versus the 6.6% for "job changers." In May 2022, during the pandemic, employees on average could see 16% more money changing jobs.

The combination of factors has resulted in a much tighter labor market with "less churn," so young people with less experience than their older counterparts feel the brunt of the slowdown, according to McBride.

Treading water

Berggren said she already faces discrimination from employers because she's expected to deliver a baby in October. Sometimes she's unsure whether to mention it, but it comes up in her interviews.

"The first thing they ask you is like, 'Who are you? What do you do if you're not at work?' And my answer is always, 'Oh, I'm Kaylie. I'm a full-time mom. And then usually the next question is, like, 'Is there any significant time that you're going to have to take coming up in the coming months. I am not the type to like lie, so I'm usually like, 'Yes, I have to give birth around (October). And I usually don't, like, receive a call back after that interview."

Businesses with more than 15 employees are legally required to provide accommodations to pregnant employees and cannot deny employment opportunities, like promotions or whether to hire an employee, if the applicant is otherwise qualified on the basis of their pregnancy, according to the state Department of Labor and Industries. Starting July 1, 2027, all employers with at least one employee will be required to provide these accommodations as well.

The state Attorney General's Office last week filed a lawsuit against Providence Health and Services in King County Superior Court over repeatedly failing to provide the accommodations afforded to employees by law to their pregnant and nursing employees, going as far back as 2021.

Without work, she relies on the state Department of Social and Health Services SNAP program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families for financial support, along with local food pantries or the WVC Knights Kupboard food pantry.

Outside of a job, Berggren said she wants to leave a good example for the community and her three kids and fiancé. So while she searches for work, Berggren is trying to get her associate's degree.

"My kid's dad right now, he also is my motivation, plus the kiddos," she said. "I want them to see me graduate so bad. I want my kids to be there when I graduate."

But in the meantime, she's working on landing another job.

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