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Internet address: http://stats.bls.gov:80/newsrels.htm Technical information: 202) 606-6378 USDL 97-240 Media contact: 606-5902 For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT Wednesday, July 23, 1997 COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 1996 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES Sixty-five percent of 1996 high school graduates were attending colleges or universities by the fall, according to data released today by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. This rate was an all-time high. From 1992 to 1995, the enrollment rate was about 62 percent. This information is from the Current Population Survey, a monthly nationwide survey of about 50,000 households, conducted for BLS by the Bureau of the Census. Each October, the survey includes special questions on the school enrollment and high school graduation status of persons 16 to 24 years of age. Recent High School Graduates and Dropouts Of a total of 2.7 million youth who graduated from high school in 1996, about 1.7 million were attending college in October. Young women were more likely than young men to enter colleges or universities--69.7 percent compared with 60.1 percent. A higher proportion of the white graduates were enrolled in college the following fall (65.8 percent) than were blacks (55.3 percent) and Hispanics (50.7 percent). (See table 1.) Nearly two-thirds of the 1996 high school graduates who were freshmen in college were enrolled in 4-year institutions. About two-fifths of them were combining school with some labor force activity. In contrast, a much higher proportion (about three-fifths) of the youth enrolled in 2-year colleges were in the labor force. The labor force participation rate was 78.1 percent among the high school graduates who did not enroll in college in the fall of 1996. Despite improvements in the economy and employment since mid-1992, the unemployment rate for this group was 24.4 percent in October 1996. Between October of 1995 and October of 1996, roughly one-half million young people dropped out of high school. Of these, only 58.4 percent were in the labor force, and their unemployment rate was 27.6 percent. Among high school dropouts, men were more likely than women to be participating in the labor force (74.0 versus 43.6 percent). Youth Enrolled in School In October 1996, a total of 17.4 million youth aged 16 to 24 were either enrolled in college (9.0 million) or high school and below (8.4 - 2 million). Nearly 85 percent of the college students were enrolled full time, just over half of whom participated in the labor force. In contrast, nearly 90 percent of the part-time college students participated in the labor force. The unemployment rate for full-time college students was 7.4 percent, somewhat higher than the 4.1-percent rate for part-time college students. Among high school students, 41.4 percent were engaged in some labor force activity in October, and their unemployment rate was 15.6 percent. Unemployment rates for black (33.5 percent) and Hispanic (21.3 percent) high school students continued to be higher than for whites (12.8 percent). (See table 2.) Out-of-School Youth A total of 15.1 million youth aged 16 to 24 were not enrolled in school in October 1996, and slightly more than 80 percent of them were in the labor force. Among those not enrolled in school, men were more likely than women to be in the labor force. Blacks and Hispanics had lower labor force participation rates and higher unemployment rates than whites. Higher levels of education generally correspond to lower unemployment rates. Both men and women who had graduated from college had the lowest rates--5.2 and 2.9 percent, respectively. In contrast, those with less than a high school diploma experienced the highest unemployment rates--21.7 percent for men and 28.7 percent for women. -----------------------------------------------------------------------| Information in this release will be made available to sensory | |impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-606-STAT; TDD | |phone: 202-606-5897; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-326-2577.| -----------------------------------------------------------------------Table 1. Labor force status of 1996 high school graduates and 1995-96 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 1996 (Numbers in thousands) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | Civilian labor force | _______________________________________________________ | | | | Civilian | | | | | | noninsti-| | | Employed | Unemployed | Not in _____________________________________ Characteristic | tutional | | Percent| | | labor |population| Total | of | | | | | force | | | popula-| |Percent of| | Percent| | | | tion | Total |population| Number |of labor| | | | | | | | force | ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total, 1996 high school graduates...| 2,660 | 1,528| 57.4 | 1,225| 46.1 | 303| 19.8 | 1,132 | | | | | | | | Men...............................| 1,297 | 771| 59.5 | 605| 46.6 | 167| 21.6 | 526 Women.............................| 1,363 | 756| 55.5 | 620| 45.5 | 136| 18.0 | 606 | | | | | | | | White.............................| 2,092 | 1,253| 59.9 | 1,047| 50.0 | 206| 16.5 | 839 Black.............................| 416 | 231| 55.6 | 150| 35.9 | 82| 35.4 | 185 Hispanic origin...................| 227 | 138| 60.6 | 100| 44.2 | 37| 27.1 | 89 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in college...............| 1,729 | 801| 46.3 | 676| 39.1 | 126| 15.7 | 928 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in 2-year college......| 615 | 379| 61.7 | 310| 50.4 | 69| 18.3 | 235 Enrolled in 4-year college......| 1,115 | 422| 37.9 | 366| 32.8 | 57| 13.4 | 692 | | | | | | | | Full-time students..............| 1,589 | 681| 42.8 | 562| 35.4 | 119| 17.5 | 908 Part-time students..............| 140 | 120| 86.1 | 113| 81.2 | 7| 5.8 | 19 | | | | | | | | Men.............................| 779 | 348| 44.7 | 286| 36.7 | 63| 18.0 | 431 Women...........................| 950 | 453| 47.7 | 390| 41.0 | 63| 14.0 | 497 | | | | | | | | White...........................| 1,377 | 679| 49.4 | 584| 42.4 | 96| 14.1 | 697 Black...........................| 230 | 94| 40.9 | 74| 32.0 | 21| 21.8 | 136 Hispanic origin.................| 115 | 66| 57.4 | 55| 47.3 | 12| (1) | 49 | | | | | | | | Not enrolled in college...........| 931 | 726| 78.1 | 549| 59.0 | 177| 24.4 | 204 | | | | | | | | Men.............................| 518 | 423| 81.7 | 319| 61.6 | 104| 24.6 | 95 Women...........................| 413 | 303| 73.5 | 231| 55.9 | 73| 23.9 | 109 | | | | | | | | White...........................| 716 | 574| 80.2 | 463| 64.7 | 111| 19.3 | 142 Black...........................| 186 | 137| 73.8 | 76| 40.8 | 61| 44.8 | 49 Hispanic origin.................| 112 | 71| 63.9 | 46| 41.1 | 26| (1) | 40 | | | | | | | | Total, 1995-96 high school | | | | | | | | dropouts(2)......................| 496 | 289| 58.4 | 210| 42.3 | 80| 27.6 | 206 | | | | | | | | Men...............................| 241 | 178| 74.0 | 123| 51.0 | 56| 31.1 | 63 Women.............................| 255 | 111| 43.6 | 87| 34.1 | 24| 21.8 | 144 | | | | | | | | White.............................| 365 | 238| 65.1 | 178| 48.6 | 60| 25.3 | 127 Black.............................| 111 | 40| 35.7 | 23| 20.7 | 17| (1) | 71 Hispanic origin...................| 105 | 71| 67.7 | 57| 54.5 | 14| (1) | 34 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000. 2 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 1995 and October 1996. NOTE: Detail for the above race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other races" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Because of rounding, sum of individual items may not equal totals. Table 2. Labor force status of persons 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, educational attainment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 1996 (Numbers in thousands) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | Civilian labor force | _______________________________________________________ | | | | Civilian | | | | | | noninsti-| | | Employed | Unemployed | Not in _____________________________________ Characteristic | tutional | | Percent| | | labor |population| Total | of | | | | | force | | | popula-| |Percent of| | Percent| | | | tion | Total |population| Number |of labor| | | | | | | | force | _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total, 16 to 24 years..........| 32,452 | 20,989| 64.7 | 18,613| 57.4 | 2,376| 11.3 | 11,463 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in school.................| 17,381 | 8,749| 50.3 | 7,856| 45.2 | 893| 10.2 | 8,632 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in high school(1).......| 8,389 | 3,475| 41.4 | 2,933| 35.0 | 543| 15.6 | 4,913 | | | | | | | | Men............................| 4,487 | 1,834| 40.9 | 1,526| 34.0 | 308| 16.8 | 2,653 Women..........................| 3,901 | 1,641| 42.1 | 1,407| 36.1 | 234| 14.3 | 2,260 | | | | | | | | White..........................| 6,543 | 2,955| 45.2 | 2,577| 39.4 | 378| 12.8 | 3,588 Black..........................| 1,427 | 382| 26.8 | 254| 17.8 | 128| 33.5 | 1,045 Hispanic origin................| 1,122 | 332| 29.6 | 261| 23.3 | 71| 21.3 | 790 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in college..............| 8,992 | 5,273| 58.6 | 4,923| 54.7 | 351| 6.6 | 3,718 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in 2-year college.....| 2,413 | 1,720| 71.3 | 1,580| 65.5 | 140| 8.2 | 692 Enrolled in 4-year college.....| 6,579 | 3,553| 54.0 | 3,343| 50.8 | 210| 5.9 | 3,026 | | | | | | | | Full-time students.............| 7,581 | 4,026| 53.1 | 3,726| 49.2 | 299| 7.4 | 3,555 Part-time students.............| 1,411 | 1,248| 88.4 | 1,197| 84.8 | 51| 4.1 | 164 | | | | | | | | Men............................| 4,279 | 2,412| 56.4 | 2,254| 52.7 | 158| 6.6 | 1,867 Women..........................| 4,713 | 2,861| 60.7 | 2,669| 56.6 | 192| 6.7 | 1,852 | | | | | | | | White..........................| 7,280 | 4,532| 62.2 | 4,269| 58.6 | 263| 5.8 | 2,748 Black..........................| 1,026 | 454| 44.3 | 398| 38.8 | 56| 12.4 | 571 Hispanic origin................| 725 | 459| 63.3 | 413| 56.9 | 46| 10.1 | 266 | | | | | | | | Not enrolled in school.............| 15,071 | 12,241| 81.2 | 10,757| 71.4 | 1,483| 12.1 | 2,831 16 to 19 years...................| 3,398 | 2,439| 71.8 | 1,906| 56.1 | 533| 21.8 | 960 20 to 24 years...................| 11,673 | 9,802| 84.0 | 8,851| 75.8 | 951| 9.7 | 1,871 | | | | | | | | Men..............................| 7,530 | 6,776| 90.0 | 5,978| 79.4 | 799| 11.8 | 754 Less than a high school diploma| 1,854 | 1,490| 80.4 | 1,167| 63.0 | 323| 21.7 | 364 High school graduates, no | | | | | | | | college.........................| 3,409 | 3,115| 91.4 | 2,750| 80.7 | 365| 11.7 | 294 Less than a bachelor's degree..| 1,605 | 1,525| 95.0 | 1,447| 90.2 | 77| 5.1 | 80 College graduates..............| 663 | 647| 97.6 | 613| 92.5 | 34| 5.2 | 16 | | | | | | | | Women............................| 7,541 | 5,464| 72.5 | 4,780| 63.4 | 684| 12.5 | 2,077 Less than a high school diploma| 1,757 | 761| 43.3 | 542| 30.9 | 219| 28.7 | 996 High school graduates, no | | | | | | | | college.........................| 3,248 | 2,459| 75.7 | 2,127| 65.5 | 332| 13.5 | 789 Less than a bachelor's degree..| 1,712 | 1,467| 85.7 | 1,357| 79.3 | 111| 7.5 | 244 College graduates..............| 824 | 776| 94.2 | 754| 91.4 | 23| 2.9 | 48 | | | | | | | | White............................| 11,971 | 9,934| 83.0 | 8,986| 75.1 | 948| 9.5 | 2,036 Black............................| 2,435 | 1,804| 74.1 | 1,321| 54.3 | 483| 26.8 | 631 Hispanic origin..................| 2,634 | 1,916| 72.8 | 1,641| 62.3 | 275| 14.4 | 717 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 Includes a small number of persons enrolled in grades below high school NOTE: Detail for the above race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other races" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Because of rounding, sum of individual items may not equal totals.