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Internet address: http://stats.bls.gov/newsrels.htm Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 00-136 Media contact: 691-5902 For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT Wednesday, May 17, 2000 COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 1999 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES Sixty-three percent of the high school graduating class of 1999 was enrolled in colleges or universities in the fall, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The college enrollment rate was somewhat lower than a year earlier and was well below its October 1997 record high of 67.0 percent. The over-the-year decline was much sharper among young women than among young men. These data come from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly nationwide survey of about 50,000 households conducted for BLS by the Census Bureau. 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 Among the 2.9 million youth who graduated from high school in 1999, about 1.8 million (62.9 percent) were enrolled in college the following fall. The college enrollment rate of young women, at 64.4 percent, continued to exceed that of young men (61.4 percent). There were differences in enrollment status between the race and ethnic groups. About 62.8 percent of white high school graduates were enrolled in college the following fall, compared with 59.2 percent of blacks and just 42.2 percent of Hispanics. (See table 1.) Two-thirds of the 1999 college freshmen were enrolled in 4-year institutions, and nearly 40 percent participated in the labor force through either work or an active job search. In contrast, 63.5 percent of the youth enrolled in 2-year colleges were in the labor force. Only eight percent of the recent high school graduates who were enrolled in college attended school part time, but those who did were more than twice as likely to participate in the labor force (89.2 percent) as were full-time students (42.7 percent). The labor force participation rate for high school graduates who did not enroll in college was 84.2 percent in October 1999. In line with improvements in the economy, their employment-population ratio--that is, the proportion of their population with jobs--rose from 64.4 percent to 69.4 percent between October 1998 and 1999. High school dropouts have always experienced greater labor market difficulties than persons with higher levels of education. Of the 524,000 youth who had dropped out of high school over the year ended October 1999, 57.3 percent were in the labor force. Their unemployment rate of 26.1 percent was 8.6 percentage points higher than the rate for the year's high school graduates who did not go on to college. Among high school dropouts, men were more likely than women to participate in the labor force (66.8 versus 49.2 percent). - 2 Youth Enrolled in School Over half of the nation's 32.4 million 16- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in school in October 1999. Nearly 9 million were in high school and 9.4 million were in college (including 1999 high school graduates who were enrolled in college). Among high school students, 41.2 percent were in the labor force, and their unemployment rate was 13.8 percent. For college students, labor force participation rates varied greatly between full- and part-time students. In October 1999, of the 85 percent who attended school on a full-time basis, 53 percent were labor force participants. In contrast, 87 percent of the part-time students were labor force participants. The unemployment rates for both full-time and parttime college students (5.6 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively) were far lower than the rate for high school students (13.8 percent). Among both high school and college students, unemployment rates were much higher for blacks and Hispanics than for whites. (See table 2.) Out-of-School Youth Four out of five of the 16- to 24-year-olds not enrolled in school were in the labor force in October 1999. Labor force participation rates for men were considerably higher than for women in this group (89.6 versus 74.2 percent). This disparity in labor force activity between young men and women is largest among those who had not completed high school and nearly disappears among college graduates. Black and Hispanic out-ofschool youth had lower labor force participation rates than whites. Also, the unemployment rate among black youth (20.4 percent) was double the rate for Hispanic youth (10.1 percent) and 2 1/2 times the rate for white youth (7.9 percent). (See table 2.) Technical Note The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the October 1999 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 U.S. Census Bureau. 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: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339. 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 1999 high school graduates and 1998-99 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 1999 (Numbers in thousands) Civilian labor force Characteristic Civilian noninstitutional population Total Percent of population Employed Unemployed Total Percent of population Number Rate Not in labor force Total, 1999 high school graduates... 2,897 1,749 60.4 1,536 53.0 213 12.2 1,148 Men............................... Women............................. 1,474 1,423 928 821 62.9 57.7 821 715 55.7 50.3 107 106 11.5 12.9 546 602 White............................. Black............................. Hispanic origin................... 2,287 453 329 1,434 235 217 62.7 51.8 66.2 1,282 185 158 56.0 40.8 47.9 152 50 60 10.6 21.3 27.5 853 218 111 Enrolled in college............... 1,822 845 46.4 790 43.3 55 6.5 977 Enrolled in 2-year college...... Enrolled in 4-year college...... 609 1,213 387 458 63.5 37.8 366 424 60.0 35.0 21 34 5.5 7.4 222 755 Full-time students.............. Part-time students.............. 1,677 145 715 129 42.7 89.2 671 118 40.0 81.6 44 11 6.1 8.5 962 16 Men............................. Women........................... 905 917 427 418 47.1 45.6 400 389 44.2 42.5 26 29 6.2 6.8 479 499 White........................... Black........................... Hispanic origin................. 1,437 268 139 706 87 61 49.2 32.4 43.6 668 75 45 46.5 27.9 32.5 38 12 15 5.4 13.9 (1) 730 181 78 Not enrolled in college........... 1,075 904 84.2 746 69.4 158 17.5 170 Men............................. Women........................... 568 506 501 403 88.1 79.7 420 326 73.9 64.4 81 78 16.1 19.2 67 103 White........................... Black........................... Hispanic origin................. 851 185 190 728 148 157 85.6 80.0 82.7 614 110 112 72.2 59.5 59.3 114 38 44 15.6 25.6 28.3 123 37 33 Total, 1998-99 high school dropouts(2)...................... 524 300 57.3 222 42.4 78 26.1 224 Men............................... Women............................. 243 282 162 139 66.8 49.2 120 102 49.5 36.2 42 37 25.8 26.4 81 143 White............................. Black............................. Hispanic origin................... 377 118 119 227 59 85 60.3 50.0 71.4 174 39 75 46.1 33.0 62.8 54 20 10 23.6 (1) 12.0 150 59 34 1 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000. 2 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 1998 and October 1999. 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. Data reflect revised population controls used in the Current Population Survey effective with January 1999 estimates. Table 2. Labor force status of persons 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, educational attainment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 1999 (Numbers in thousands) Civilian labor force Characteristic Civilian noninstitutional population Employed Total Unemployed Percent of population Total Percent of population Number Percent of labor force Not in labor force Total, 16 to 24 years.......... 34,173 22,135 64.8 20,044 58.7 2,091 9.4 12,038 Enrolled in school................. 18,371 9,199 50.1 8,380 45.6 819 8.9 9,172 Enrolled in high school(1)....... 8,971 3,696 41.2 3,186 35.5 510 13.8 5,275 Men............................ Women.......................... 4,746 4,225 1,963 1,733 41.4 41.0 1,687 1,498 35.6 35.5 276 234 14.1 13.5 2,783 2,492 White.......................... Black.......................... Hispanic origin................ 6,990 1,470 1,256 3,153 391 398 45.1 26.6 31.6 2,765 276 292 39.6 18.8 23.2 388 115 106 12.3 29.3 26.6 3,837 1,079 859 Enrolled in college.............. 9,400 5,503 58.5 5,194 55.3 309 5.6 3,897 Enrolled in 2-year college..... Enrolled in 4-year college..... 2,405 6,995 1,673 3,829 69.6 54.7 1,578 3,616 65.6 51.7 95 213 5.7 5.6 732 3,165 Full-time students............. Part-time students............. 7,976 1,424 4,258 1,245 53.4 87.4 4,022 1,172 50.4 82.3 236 72 5.6 5.8 3,718 179 Men............................ Women.......................... 4,471 4,929 2,553 2,950 57.1 59.8 2,377 2,817 53.2 57.1 176 133 6.9 4.5 1,918 1,979 White.......................... Black.......................... Hispanic origin................ 7,533 1,183 747 4,609 572 446 61.2 48.3 59.8 4,401 499 398 58.4 42.2 53.3 208 72 48 4.5 12.7 10.8 2,924 612 301 Not enrolled in school............. 16 to 19 years................... 20 to 24 years................... 15,801 3,671 12,130 12,936 2,736 10,200 81.9 74.5 84.1 11,664 2,261 9,403 73.8 61.6 77.5 1,272 475 797 9.8 17.4 7.8 2,865 935 1,930 Men.............................. Less than a high school diploma High school graduates, no college......................... Less than a bachelor's degree.. College graduates.............. 7,889 2,032 7,065 1,646 89.6 81.0 6,382 1,435 80.9 70.6 683 211 9.7 12.8 824 387 3,667 1,585 605 3,341 1,500 579 91.1 94.7 95.6 3,013 1,396 538 82.2 88.1 88.9 328 104 41 9.8 7.0 7.0 327 85 26 Women............................ Less than a high school diploma High school graduates, no college......................... Less than a bachelor's degree.. College graduates.............. 7,912 1,797 5,871 865 74.2 48.1 5,282 694 66.8 38.6 589 171 10.0 19.8 2,041 932 3,332 1,814 970 2,593 1,519 895 77.8 83.7 92.3 2,318 1,428 843 69.6 78.7 86.9 275 91 52 10.6 6.0 5.8 739 295 75 White............................ Black............................ Hispanic origin.................. 12,700 2,463 3,057 10,593 1,865 2,308 83.4 75.7 75.5 9,757 1,485 2,074 76.8 60.3 67.8 836 380 234 7.9 20.4 10.1 2,108 598 749 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. Data reflect revised population controls used in the Current Population Survey effective with January 1999 estimates.