For millennials, the unemployment rate in September hit 11.8percent, according to Generation Opportunity, a nonprofit,nonpartisan organization that mobilizes young Americans regardingeconomic issues.

Among African-American millennials in September unemploymentreached 21 percent while it reached 12.1 percentfor Hispanics and 11.6 percent for female millennials,Generation Opportunity finds. Because of the declining labor forceparticipation rate, there are now 1.7 million millennials whoare not considered unemployed by the U.S. Department of Labor. Thissuggests that those millennials are not looking for work because ofthe few available jobs, and if the labor force participation ratewere calculated, millennial unemployment would jump to 16.6percent.

"These numbers tell a devastating story – a story we cannotafford to ignore or hope away,” says Generation OpportunityPresident Paul T. Conway, former Chief of Staff of the UnitedStates Department of Labor and former Chief of Staff of the UnitedStates Office of Personnel Management. “The risk is far too high asthe promise of America is slipping past an entire generation. Asfellow citizens, we have an obligation to act, to createopportunity and to offer real hope and independence to youngAmericans. What adds to the gravity of today's report is thecurrent administration's casual dismissal of the facts and theirstubborn insistence on moving forward with the same policies of thelast three-and-a-half years regardless of the consequences.