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Internet address: http://stats.bls.gov/newsrels.htm
Technical information: (202) 606-6378 USDL 99-175
For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact: 606-5902 Friday, June 25, 1999
COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 1998 HIGH SCHOOL
GRADUATES
Nearly two-thirds of 1998 high school graduates were enrolled in
colleges or universities in the fall, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau
of Labor Statistics reported today. The proportion of graduates going on
to college was little changed from the prior 2 years. The rate had been
about 62 percent from 1992 to 1995.
This information is from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly
survey of about 50,000 households that provides data on employment,
unemployment, and other characteristics of the population. Questions
relating to school enrollment and high school graduation status are asked
each October in a supplement to the basic CPS. Additional information
about the October supplement is included in the Technical Note.
Recent High School Graduates and Dropouts
Of the 2.8 million youth who graduated from high school in 1998, 1.8
million (65.6 percent) were attending college in October. The enrollment
rate of young women, 69.1 percent, continued to exceed that of young men,
62.4 percent. (See table 1.)
Recent high school graduates entering 4-year colleges and universities
were less likely to be in the labor force (41.8 percent) than their
counterparts in 2-year colleges (64.1 percent). (Labor force participants
are persons who are either employed or unemployed.) Only nine percent of
recent graduates in college attended school part time, but those who did
were nearly twice as likely to participate in the labor force (83.2
percent) as full-time students (46.7 percent).
About four out of five recent high school graduates who were not
enrolled in school were in the labor force. These youths had a higher rate
of unemployment (18.4 percent) than youths enrolled in college either part
time (13.2 percent) or full time (10.3 percent).
Approximately half a million youths left school between October 1997
and October 1998 without graduating. The labor force participation rate of
these dropouts (60.9 percent) was considerably less than that of graduates
not enrolled in school (79.6 percent), and their unemployment rate was much
higher--28.2 percent versus 18.4 percent. Female high school dropouts were
less likely than male dropouts to participate in the labor force, and their
unemployment rate was about twice that of male dropouts.
Youth Enrolled in School
Over half of the 33.4 million persons aged 16 to 24 were enrolled in
school in October 1998--8.7 million youths were enrolled in high school (or
below) and 9.4 million were in college. Two out of five of those in high
- 2 -
school were in the labor force, and their unemployment rate was 16.0
percent. Among college students, 59.8 percent were in the labor force;
their unemployment rate was 7.0 percent. Eighty-four percent of youths
enrolled in college were full-time students. These full-time students were
less likely than part-time students to be in the labor force--54.2 percent
versus 88.9 percent. (See table 2.)
Out-of-School Youth
Of the 15.3 million youths aged 16 to 24 who were not enrolled in
school in October 1998, 81.7 percent were in the labor force. Out-of-
school men were more likely to be in the labor force than women, and older
youth (ages 20 to 24) participated in the labor force more than younger
ones (ages 16 to 19).
Among youth not in school, participation rates were much higher for
those with a high school degree (no college)--92.5 percent for men and 76.9
percent for women--than for those without a high school diploma--77.2 percent
for men and only 49.9 percent for women. The unemployment rate for those
who had not graduated from high school was 15.7 percent, compared to 9.2
percent for those with a high school diploma (no college).
Technical Note
The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the
October 1998 Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about
50,000 households which provides information on the labor force,
employment, and unemployment for the nation. The survey is conducted
monthly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the Bureau of the Census.
Data relate to the school enrollment status of persons 16 to 24 years of
age in the civilian noninstitutional population in the calendar week that
includes the 12th of the month.
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.
Reliability of the estimates
Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and
nonsampling error. When a sample, rather than the entire population, is
surveyed, there is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the
"true" population values they represent. The exact difference, or sampling
error, varies depending on the particular sample selected, and this
variability is measured by the standard error of the estimate. There is
about a 90-percent chance, or level of confidence, that an estimate based
on a sample will differ by no more than 1.6 standard errors from the "true"
population value because of sampling error. BLS analyses are generally
conducted at the 90-percent level of confidence.
The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error
can occur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of
the population, inability to obtain information for all respondents in the
sample, inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct
information, and errors made in the collection or processing of the data.
For a full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and
information on estimating standard errors, see the "Explanatory Notes and
Estimates of Error" section of Employment and Earnings.
Concepts
The principal concepts used in connection with the school enrollment
series are described briefly below.
School enrollment. Respondents were asked whether they were currently
enrolled in a regular school, including day or night school in any type of
public, parochial, or other private school. Regular schooling is that
which may advance a person toward a high school diploma or a college,
university, or professional degree. Such schools include elementary
schools, junior or senior high schools, and colleges and universities.
Persons attending special schools, such as trade schools or business
colleges, are not included in the enrollment figures. Persons taking
classes that do not require physical presence in school, such as
correspondence courses or other courses of independent study, and persons
attending training courses given directly on the job are counted only if
the credits obtained are towards promotion in regular school.
Full-time and part-time enrollment in college. College students are
classified as attending full time if they were taking 12 hours of classes
or more (or 9 hours of graduate classes) during an average school week, and
as part time if they were taking fewer hours.
High school graduation status. Persons who were not enrolled in school
at the time of the survey were asked whether they had graduated from high
school. Those who had graduated were asked when they completed their high
school education. Persons who had not graduated, that is, school dropouts,
were asked when they last attended a regular school. Those who were
enrolled in college at the time of the survey also were asked when they
graduated from high school.
Table 1. Labor force status of 1998 high school graduates and 1997-98 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old
by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 1998
(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, 1998 high school graduates... 2,810 1,692 60.2 1,451 51.7 241 14.2 1,118
Men............................... 1,452 922 63.5 801 55.2 121 13.1 530
Women............................. 1,358 770 56.7 651 47.9 120 15.5 588
White............................. 2,277 1,394 61.2 1,214 53.3 180 12.9 883
Black............................. 393 233 59.3 188 47.8 45 19.4 160
Hispanic origin................... 314 211 67.2 155 49.4 56 26.4 103
Enrolled in college............... 1,844 924 50.1 825 44.7 99 10.7 920
Enrolled in 2-year college...... 685 439 64.1 382 55.8 56 12.8 246
Enrolled in 4-year college...... 1,159 485 41.8 442 38.1 43 8.8 674
Full-time students.............. 1,675 783 46.7 702 41.9 80 10.3 892
Part-time students.............. 170 141 83.2 123 72.2 19 13.2 28
Men............................. 906 462 51.1 413 45.6 50 10.7 443
Women........................... 938 461 49.1 412 43.9 49 10.7 477
White........................... 1,499 767 51.2 684 45.6 83 10.8 732
Black........................... 244 121 49.4 109 44.8 11 9.3 123
Hispanic origin................. 149 95 63.7 70 47.3 25 25.8 54
Not enrolled in college........... 965 768 79.6 627 64.9 142 18.4 197
Men............................. 546 459 84.1 388 71.0 71 15.5 87
Women........................... 419 309 73.7 239 56.9 70 22.7 110
White........................... 778 627 80.6 530 68.1 97 15.5 151
Black........................... 149 113 75.6 79 52.7 34 30.2 37
Hispanic origin................. 165 116 70.3 85 51.4 31 26.9 49
Total, 1997-98 high school
dropouts(1)...................... 505 308 60.9 221 43.7 87 28.2 197
Men............................... 257 164 63.9 133 51.8 31 19.0 93
Women............................. 248 143 57.8 88 35.4 56 38.7 105
White............................. 384 257 67.0 194 50.6 63 24.5 127
Black............................. 98 46 47.2 24 24.2 23 (2) 52
Hispanic origin................... 120 82 68.5 60 50.0 22 27.1 38
1 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 1997 and October 1998.
2 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000.
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 1998
(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.......... 33,445 21,691 64.9 19,575 58.5 2,116 9.8 11,754
Enrolled in school................. 18,174 9,207 50.7 8,241 45.3 967 10.5 8,967
Enrolled in high school(1)....... 8,729 3,561 40.8 2,991 34.3 571 16.0 5,168
Men............................ 4,607 1,875 40.7 1,545 33.5 330 17.6 2,732
Women.......................... 4,122 1,687 40.9 1,446 35.1 241 14.3 2,435
White.......................... 6,759 3,000 44.4 2,600 38.5 400 13.3 3,759
Black.......................... 1,516 454 29.9 315 20.8 139 30.5 1,062
Hispanic origin................ 1,128 303 26.9 224 19.8 79 26.1 825
Enrolled in college.............. 9,445 5,646 59.8 5,250 55.6 396 7.0 3,799
Enrolled in 2-year college..... 2,663 1,920 72.1 1,746 65.5 175 9.1 743
Enrolled in 4-year college..... 6,782 3,726 54.9 3,504 51.7 221 5.9 3,056
Full-time students............. 7,939 4,306 54.2 3,982 50.2 324 7.5 3,633
Part-time students............. 1,506 1,340 88.9 1,268 84.1 72 5.4 167
Men............................ 4,451 2,573 57.8 2,382 53.5 191 7.4 1,878
Women.......................... 4,994 3,073 61.5 2,868 57.4 205 6.7 1,921
White.......................... 7,633 4,720 61.8 4,419 57.9 301 6.4 2,913
Black.......................... 1,137 644 56.6 569 50.0 75 11.7 493
Hispanic origin................ 829 526 63.5 458 55.3 68 12.9 303
Not enrolled in school............. 15,271 12,484 81.7 11,334 74.2 1,149 9.2 2,788
16 to 19 years................... 3,471 2,531 72.9 2,067 59.6 464 18.3 940
20 to 24 years................... 11,801 9,953 84.3 9,267 78.5 686 6.9 1,848
Men.............................. 7,795 6,922 88.8 6,308 80.9 615 8.9 873
Less than a high school diploma 2,241 1,730 77.2 1,489 66.4 241 13.9 511
High school graduates, no
college......................... 3,508 3,244 92.5 2,964 84.5 280 8.6 264
Less than a bachelor's degree.. 1,483 1,399 94.3 1,326 89.4 73 5.2 84
College graduates.............. 564 550 97.5 529 93.8 21 3.8 14
Women............................ 7,476 5,561 74.4 5,026 67.2 535 9.6 1,915
Less than a high school diploma 1,701 849 49.9 685 40.3 164 19.3 852
High school graduates, no
college......................... 3,151 2,424 76.9 2,184 69.3 240 9.9 727
Less than a bachelor's degree.. 1,807 1,515 83.8 1,401 77.5 114 7.5 292
College graduates.............. 817 773 94.7 757 92.7 16 2.1 44
White............................ 12,340 10,332 83.7 9,528 77.2 804 7.8 2,008
Black............................ 2,364 1,733 73.3 1,433 60.6 300 17.3 631
Hispanic origin.................. 3,077 2,377 77.3 2,134 69.3 244 10.3 699
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.