This paper examines trends in the employment rates of young black men, and other groups of young people, during 1979-2000. Data from the Current Population Survey's Outgoing Rotation Groups are used to estimate these trends and their determinants. The data are pooled and analyzed for differences across individuals and metropolitan areas and for trends over time. The analysis primarily examines less-educated young black men. After reviewing earlier literature on employment trends among young black men and their causes, the paper presents empirical estimates of trends over time and regression analysis of their potential determinants. Employment and labor force participation rates of less-educated young Black men indicate a secular decline in work activity during the 1980s-90s, despite mild improvements in employment associated with the booming economy of the 1990s. Employment trends among Blacks were much more negative than those of less-educated White or Hispanic men and of young Black women, whose employment and labor force activity improved dramatically in the 1990s. Results suggest that rising school enrollment rates of young black men imply some declining quality (from a skills or labor force perspective) among those left behind among the nonenrolled, especially in the 1990s. (Contains 38 references and 24 footnotes.) (SM)