By Kevin Deutsch
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The Bronx’s 15th Congressional District ranks dead last in economic prospects for young people, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The news agency’s Disenfranchised Youth Index draws on the most recently available U.S. Census statistics, from 2018, to gauge economic opportunities for residents aged 18 to 34.
Bloomberg’s criteria: A congressional district’s share of young adults who are unemployed, living at home with a parent, lacking a high school diploma, or living in poverty.
The data paints a grim picture of economic life in communities left behind by America’s historic 11-year economic expansion—record-setting growth that ended abruptly with the arrival of COVID-19.
According to Bloomberg, unemployment for people aged 16 to 24 was 12.7% in December, near a record low. But in April that number spiked to 32.7%, more than twice the national rate of 14.7%, which was the highest since the 1930s, the news agency reported.
The Bronx’s 15th, with some of the highest rates of coronavirus infection and death in New York City, is facing an even harsher economic climate today.
The district is represented in Congress by retiring Rep. José E. Serrano, with a crowded field of candidates vying to replace him in June’s primary.
The 15th, located entirely in the Bronx, includes neighborhoods like Melrose, Hunts Point, East Tremont, Mott Haven, Concourse Village, Morrisania, Soundview, Fordham, and High Bridge.