Young Workers Get Hurt More: U.S. Job Injuries at Ages 15–24, 2012–2018

Adolescents and young adults make up about 13% of the U.S. workforce, and they are injured at work more often than older adults. CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) measured how often, and how, using the two main national sources:

Workers aged 15–17 (covered by child labor laws), 18–19 and 20–24 were compared with those aged 25–44, who resemble them more closely in physical health than older workers do. Rates are per 10,000 full-time-equivalent (FTE) workers — one FTE being 2,000 hours a year.

Emergency department visits, 2012–2018

An estimated 3.2 million job injuries to workers aged 15–24 were treated in emergency departments over the seven years. Rates fell over the period in every age group, but every year young workers' rates were 1.2 to 2.3 times those of workers aged 25–44.

In every age group, males were injured at 1.4 to 1.5 times the rate of females.

Emergency department–treated job injuries per 10,000 full-time workers, by age group, 2012–2018. CDC

How they were hurt (rate per 10,000 FTE):

Injuries that cost a day's work, 2018

For workers 18 and older, most injuries in trade, transportation and utilities were in retail. Across all ages, service occupations — food preparation and serving, cleaning and maintenance, personal care, protective services and health care support — had the largest share of injuries needing time off.

Why young workers get hurt

Evidence from the United States and other countries points to:

• hazardous tasks in the jobs young people do, and a fast pace;
• violations of child labor laws;
• minority status;
• lack of skills, experience, supervision and good safety training;
• being less likely to recognize hazards, speak up about safety, or know their legal rights.

Job injuries can have long-term effects on health.

What would help

• Employers: keep workplaces safe, obey safety, health and child labor laws, supervise young workers closely and give job-specific training. With about half of injured 15- to 17-year-olds in hospitality — most in accommodation and food services — employers there are an obvious target.
• Schools: teach workplace safety before young people start work. NIOSH and partners built a free, evaluated curriculum, Talking Safety, that teaches students to spot hazards and deal with them, understand their rights and responsibilities, and raise concerns — and it has been shown to work.
• Enforcement agencies can build safety into job-preparation programs; parents and health care providers can talk about it with young people.
• Surveillance systems need to report injuries to young workers more fully.

Limits

1. Both sources undercount: NEISS-Work misses injuries treated outside emergency departments, and SOII counts only injuries serious enough to cost a day of work.
2. The two use very different methods, so they complement each other but cannot be compared directly.
3. Rates could not be calculated from SOII for these age groups, which limits what can be said about the true scale.

Sources

Based on Guerin RJ, Reichard AA, Derk S, Hendricks KJ, Menger-Ogle LM, Okun AH, "Nonfatal Occupational Injuries to Younger Workers — United States, 2012–2018," MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report volume 69, number 35, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.