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Internet address: http://stats.bls.gov/newsrels.htm
Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 00-136
For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact: 691-5902 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, con-
tinued to exceed that of young men (61.4 percent). There were differences
in enrollment status between the race and ethnic groups. About 62.8 per-
cent 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 part-
time 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-of-
school 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
Civilian Not in
Characteristic noninsti- Percent Employed Unemployed labor
tutional of force
population Total popula-
tion Total Percent of Number Rate
population
Total, 1999 high school graduates... 2,897 1,749 60.4 1,536 53.0 213 12.2 1,148
Men............................... 1,474 928 62.9 821 55.7 107 11.5 546
Women............................. 1,423 821 57.7 715 50.3 106 12.9 602
White............................. 2,287 1,434 62.7 1,282 56.0 152 10.6 853
Black............................. 453 235 51.8 185 40.8 50 21.3 218
Hispanic origin................... 329 217 66.2 158 47.9 60 27.5 111
Enrolled in college............... 1,822 845 46.4 790 43.3 55 6.5 977
Enrolled in 2-year college...... 609 387 63.5 366 60.0 21 5.5 222
Enrolled in 4-year college...... 1,213 458 37.8 424 35.0 34 7.4 755
Full-time students.............. 1,677 715 42.7 671 40.0 44 6.1 962
Part-time students.............. 145 129 89.2 118 81.6 11 8.5 16
Men............................. 905 427 47.1 400 44.2 26 6.2 479
Women........................... 917 418 45.6 389 42.5 29 6.8 499
White........................... 1,437 706 49.2 668 46.5 38 5.4 730
Black........................... 268 87 32.4 75 27.9 12 13.9 181
Hispanic origin................. 139 61 43.6 45 32.5 15 (1) 78
Not enrolled in college........... 1,075 904 84.2 746 69.4 158 17.5 170
Men............................. 568 501 88.1 420 73.9 81 16.1 67
Women........................... 506 403 79.7 326 64.4 78 19.2 103
White........................... 851 728 85.6 614 72.2 114 15.6 123
Black........................... 185 148 80.0 110 59.5 38 25.6 37
Hispanic origin................. 190 157 82.7 112 59.3 44 28.3 33
Total, 1998-99 high school
dropouts(2)...................... 524 300 57.3 222 42.4 78 26.1 224
Men............................... 243 162 66.8 120 49.5 42 25.8 81
Women............................. 282 139 49.2 102 36.2 37 26.4 143
White............................. 377 227 60.3 174 46.1 54 23.6 150
Black............................. 118 59 50.0 39 33.0 20 (1) 59
Hispanic origin................... 119 85 71.4 75 62.8 10 12.0 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
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.......... 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............................ 4,746 1,963 41.4 1,687 35.6 276 14.1 2,783
Women.......................... 4,225 1,733 41.0 1,498 35.5 234 13.5 2,492
White.......................... 6,990 3,153 45.1 2,765 39.6 388 12.3 3,837
Black.......................... 1,470 391 26.6 276 18.8 115 29.3 1,079
Hispanic origin................ 1,256 398 31.6 292 23.2 106 26.6 859
Enrolled in college.............. 9,400 5,503 58.5 5,194 55.3 309 5.6 3,897
Enrolled in 2-year college..... 2,405 1,673 69.6 1,578 65.6 95 5.7 732
Enrolled in 4-year college..... 6,995 3,829 54.7 3,616 51.7 213 5.6 3,165
Full-time students............. 7,976 4,258 53.4 4,022 50.4 236 5.6 3,718
Part-time students............. 1,424 1,245 87.4 1,172 82.3 72 5.8 179
Men............................ 4,471 2,553 57.1 2,377 53.2 176 6.9 1,918
Women.......................... 4,929 2,950 59.8 2,817 57.1 133 4.5 1,979
White.......................... 7,533 4,609 61.2 4,401 58.4 208 4.5 2,924
Black.......................... 1,183 572 48.3 499 42.2 72 12.7 612
Hispanic origin................ 747 446 59.8 398 53.3 48 10.8 301
Not enrolled in school............. 15,801 12,936 81.9 11,664 73.8 1,272 9.8 2,865
16 to 19 years................... 3,671 2,736 74.5 2,261 61.6 475 17.4 935
20 to 24 years................... 12,130 10,200 84.1 9,403 77.5 797 7.8 1,930
Men.............................. 7,889 7,065 89.6 6,382 80.9 683 9.7 824
Less than a high school diploma 2,032 1,646 81.0 1,435 70.6 211 12.8 387
High school graduates, no
college......................... 3,667 3,341 91.1 3,013 82.2 328 9.8 327
Less than a bachelor's degree.. 1,585 1,500 94.7 1,396 88.1 104 7.0 85
College graduates.............. 605 579 95.6 538 88.9 41 7.0 26
Women............................ 7,912 5,871 74.2 5,282 66.8 589 10.0 2,041
Less than a high school diploma 1,797 865 48.1 694 38.6 171 19.8 932
High school graduates, no
college......................... 3,332 2,593 77.8 2,318 69.6 275 10.6 739
Less than a bachelor's degree.. 1,814 1,519 83.7 1,428 78.7 91 6.0 295
College graduates.............. 970 895 92.3 843 86.9 52 5.8 75
White............................ 12,700 10,593 83.4 9,757 76.8 836 7.9 2,108
Black............................ 2,463 1,865 75.7 1,485 60.3 380 20.4 598
Hispanic origin.................. 3,057 2,308 75.5 2,074 67.8 234 10.1 749
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.