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Internet address: http://stats.bls.gov/newsrels.htm
Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 01-94
For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact: 691-5902 Friday, April 13, 2001
COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF YEAR 2000 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
Sixty-three percent of the high school graduating class of 2000 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 virtually the same as a year earlier and was well below
the record high of 67 percent in 1997.
Information on school enrollment and the work activity of high school
graduates comes from an October supplement to the Current Population Survey
(CPS). The CPS is a monthly nationwide survey of about 50,000 households
that provides information on employment, unemployment, earnings, demographics,
and other characteristics of the civilian noninstitutional population age
16 and over. See the Technical Note for more information on the October
supplement.
Recent High School Graduates and Dropouts
Among the 2.8 million high school graduates in 2000, 1.7 million
(63.3 percent) were enrolled in college the following October. The college
enrollment rate of young women, at 66.2 percent, continued to exceed that
of young men, 59.9 percent. Among race and ethnic groups, a higher propor-
tion of white high school graduates were enrolled in college the following
fall (64.0 percent) than were black (56.2 percent) or Hispanic (53.0 percent)
graduates. (See table 1.)
Among the members of the year 2000 high school graduating class who
enrolled in college the following fall, two-thirds were attending 4-year
institutions. Of these students, nearly 40 percent also participated in
the labor force by either working or actively looking for employment. In
contrast, nearly 65 percent of recent high school graduates enrolled in
2-year institutions were in the labor force. Among all recent high school
graduates enrolled in college, those who attended part time were much more
likely to participate in the labor force (78.4 percent) than were full-time
college students (43.8 percent).
Four out of every five recent high school graduates not enrolled in
college were in the labor force in October 2000. The unemployment rate
for this group was 13.1 percent, down from 17.5 percent in October 1999.
Between October 1999 and October 2000, slightly more than half a million
youths dropped out of high school. Among these high school dropouts, more
than two-thirds were in the labor force in October 2000. However,
28.1 percent of these young labor force participants were unemployed--a full
15 percentage points higher than the unemployment rate for recent high school
graduates who were not enrolled in college. Among high school dropouts, men
were more likely than women to participate in the labor force (74.4 percent
versus 59.4 percent). The unemployment rate was higher for these young women
(34.2 percent) than for the young men (24.5 percent).
- 2 -
Youth Enrolled in School
Over half of the nation's 34.6 million 16- to 24-year-olds were enrolled
in school in October 2000, with 8.7 million youths in high school and
9.6 million in college. Among high school students almost 4 in 10 were in
the labor force in October 2000, and their unemployment rate was 12.7 percent.
In comparison, 6 in 10 college students were in the labor force in October
2000, with an unemployment rate of 5.1 percent. Full-time college students
were less likely to be in the labor force than part-time students, 55.1 versus
88.5 percent. Among the race and ethnic groups, Hispanic college students
were more likely to participate in the labor force (69.8 percent) than were
whites (63.3 percent) and blacks (50.9 percent). Conversely, among high
school students, a greater proportion of whites were in the labor force
(42.0 percent) than were blacks (27.2 percent) and Hispanics (25.2 percent).
(See table 2.)
Out-of-School Youth
Four out of five 16- to 24-year-olds not enrolled in school in October
2000 were in the labor force. Among young persons not enrolled in school,
a greater percentage of whites were in the labor force (84.6 percent) than
were Hispanics (77.0 percent) and blacks (73.2 percent). Labor force
participation rates were notably higher for men (88.7 percent) than for
women (76.3 percent); however, the unemployment rates were similar,
9.3 percent for men and 9.0 percent for women. The disparity in labor
force participation between young men and young women is largest among
those who have not completed high school and nearly disappears among college
graduates.
Higher levels of education generally corresponded to lower unemployment
rates. The unemployment rate for those who had graduated from college was
5.6 percent for men and 3.1 percent for women. In contrast, those with
less than a high school diploma experienced the highest unemployment rates--
16.3 percent for men and 20.3 percent for women.
Technical Note
The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the
October 2000 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 2000 high school graduates and 1999-2000 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old
by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 2000
(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, 2000 high school graduates... 2,756 1,629 59.1 1,473 53.5 155 9.5 1,127
Men............................... 1,251 767 61.3 703 56.2 64 8.3 484
Women............................. 1,505 862 57.3 770 51.2 92 10.6 643
White............................. 2,219 1,366 61.5 1,260 56.8 105 7.7 854
Black............................. 404 193 47.7 159 39.4 33 17.3 212
Hispanic origin................... 300 208 69.2 191 63.7 16 7.9 93
Enrolled in college............... 1,745 818 46.8 769 44.0 49 6.0 928
Enrolled in 2-year college...... 589 380 64.5 359 61.0 21 5.5 209
Enrolled in 4-year college...... 1,156 437 37.8 410 35.4 28 6.4 719
Full-time students.............. 1,592 697 43.8 650 40.8 48 6.8 895
Part-time students.............. 154 120 78.4 119 77.6 1 1.1 33
Men............................. 749 365 48.7 353 47.1 12 3.3 385
Women........................... 996 453 45.5 416 41.8 37 8.2 543
White........................... 1,420 695 48.9 660 46.5 35 5.1 725
Black........................... 227 84 36.8 78 34.2 6 7.0 143
Hispanic origin................. 159 101 63.3 94 59.2 6 6.4 58
Not enrolled in college........... 1,010 811 80.3 705 69.7 106 13.1 199
Men............................. 501 402 80.1 350 69.8 52 12.9 100
Women........................... 509 409 80.4 354 69.6 55 13.4 100
White........................... 799 670 83.9 601 75.1 70 10.4 129
Black........................... 177 109 61.5 82 46.0 28 25.2 68
Hispanic origin................. 141 107 75.8 97 68.8 10 9.3 34
Total, 1999-2000 high school
dropouts(1)...................... 515 350 68.0 252 48.9 99 28.1 165
Men............................... 295 220 74.4 166 56.2 54 24.5 76
Women............................. 220 131 59.4 86 39.1 45 34.2 90
White............................. 384 280 73.0 210 54.8 70 24.9 104
Black............................. 111 58 51.9 31 27.5 27 (2) 53
Hispanic origin................... 101 62 61.1 39 39.0 22 (2) 39
1 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 1999 and October 2000.
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, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Data reflect revised population controls
used in the Current Population Survey effective with January 2000 estimates.
Table 2. Labor force status of persons 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, educational attainment, sex,
race, and Hispanic origin, October 2000
(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.......... 34,568 22,627 65.5 20,675 59.8 1,952 8.6 11,940
Enrolled in school................. 18,313 9,183 50.1 8,457 46.2 726 7.9 9,130
Enrolled in high school(1)....... 8,720 3,372 38.7 2,944 33.8 428 12.7 5,348
Men............................ 4,589 1,727 37.6 1,499 32.7 228 13.2 2,863
Women.......................... 4,130 1,645 39.8 1,445 35.0 200 12.2 2,485
White.......................... 6,883 2,890 42.0 2,566 37.3 324 11.2 3,993
Black.......................... 1,395 380 27.2 287 20.5 93 24.6 1,015
Hispanic origin................ 1,275 321 25.2 254 19.9 68 21.1 954
Enrolled in college.............. 9,593 5,811 60.6 5,513 57.5 298 5.1 3,782
Enrolled in 2-year college..... 2,567 1,846 71.9 1,739 67.7 107 5.8 721
Enrolled in 4-year college..... 7,026 3,965 56.4 3,774 53.7 191 4.8 3,062
Full-time students............. 8,011 4,411 55.1 4,169 52.0 242 5.5 3,600
Part-time students............. 1,582 1,400 88.5 1,344 84.9 56 4.0 182
Men............................ 4,398 2,615 59.4 2,478 56.3 137 5.2 1,784
Women.......................... 5,195 3,196 61.5 3,035 58.4 161 5.0 1,999
White.......................... 7,675 4,861 63.3 4,631 60.3 230 4.7 2,814
Black.......................... 1,236 628 50.9 585 47.3 44 7.0 607
Hispanic origin................ 921 643 69.8 615 66.8 28 4.4 278
Not enrolled in school............. 16,255 13,444 82.7 12,218 75.2 1,226 9.1 2,810
16 to 19 years................... 3,688 2,812 76.3 2,339 63.4 473 16.8 876
20 to 24 years................... 12,567 10,632 84.6 9,879 78.6 753 7.1 1,935
Men.............................. 8,414 7,464 88.7 6,773 80.5 691 9.3 950
Less than a high school diploma 2,082 1,684 80.9 1,410 67.7 275 16.3 398
High school graduates, no
college....................... 3,962 3,551 89.6 3,220 81.3 332 9.3 410
Less than a bachelor's degree.. 1,651 1,533 92.9 1,488 90.1 46 3.0 117
College graduates.............. 720 695 96.6 656 91.2 39 5.6 25
Women............................ 7,841 5,980 76.3 5,445 69.4 536 9.0 1,860
Less than a high school diploma 1,694 928 54.8 740 43.7 188 20.3 765
High school graduates, no
college....................... 3,389 2,644 78.0 2,412 71.2 231 8.8 745
Less than a bachelor's degree.. 1,767 1,478 83.7 1,392 78.7 87 5.9 289
College graduates.............. 991 930 93.9 901 90.9 29 3.1 61
White............................ 12,996 10,992 84.6 10,175 78.3 817 7.4 2,004
Black............................ 2,592 1,897 73.2 1,543 59.5 354 18.7 696
Hispanic origin.................. 3,042 2,344 77.0 2,151 70.7 193 8.2 698
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, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Data reflect revised population controls
used in the Current Population Survey effective with January 2000 estimates.