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Technical information: (202) 691-6378 http://www.bls.gov/cps/ Media contact: 691-5902 USDL 02-288 For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT Tuesday, May 14, 2002 COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 2001 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES Slightly more than three in every five graduates of the 2001 high school class were 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 little changed from the previous 2 years, but was 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 60,000 households that obtains information on employment, unemployment, earnings, demographics, and other characteristics of the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over. Additional information about the October supplement is included in the Technical Note. Recent High School Graduates and Dropouts Among the 2.5 million members of the 2001 high school graduating class, 1.6 million (61.7 percent) were enrolled in college the following October. The college enrollment rate of young women was 63.6 percent, compared with 59.8 percent for young men. The percentage of young women attending college following high school graduation has exceeded that of young men in almost every year since 1988. Among race and ethnic groups, a greater percentage of white graduates (63.1 percent) were enrolled in college than were black (54.8 percent) or Hispanic (51.5 percent) graduates. (See table 1.) The vast majority of recent high school graduates who enrolled in college in the fall attended full time. Of these full-time students, 42.9 percent were employed or looking for work in October 2001, compared with 87.5 percent of part-time college students. Similarly, a much smaller proportion of students attending 4-year institutions (35.3 percent) participated in the labor force than students attending 2-year schools (71.6 percent). This partly reflects the fact that students enrolled in 2-year colleges were more likely to attend part time (31.3 percent) than students enrolled in 4-year colleges (11.3 percent). Among recent high school graduates not enrolled in college in the fall, 80.6 percent were in the labor force in October 2001. Their employment- population ratio--the proportion of the population with jobs--declined from 69.7 percent in 2000 to 63.8 percent in 2001. Over the same period, their unemployment rate increased from 13.1 percent to 20.9 percent, in line with the weakened economy. Between October 2000 and October 2001, slightly more than half a million youths dropped out of high school. Among these high school dropouts, 64.0 percent participated in the labor force in October 2001. The unemployment rate for this group was 35.9 percent--a full 15 percentage points higher than the unemployment rate for recent high school graduates who were not enrolled in college. - 2 Youth Enrolled in School Among all of the nation's 16- to 24-year-olds, more than half were enrolled in school in October 2001. Nearly 9 million were enrolled in high school and 10 million in college. Among high school students, 37.0 percent were either employed or looking for work. For college students, labor force participation rates varied greatly between full- and part-time students and those enrolled in 2- versus 4-year colleges. In October 2001, 89.9 percent of part-time college students were in the labor force, compared with 50.9 percent of full-time students. Among students enrolled in a 2-year college, 72.1 percent participated in the labor force; this compares with 52.0 percent of students enrolled in a 4-year college. (See table 2.) Overall, the unemployment rate for college students (7.2 percent) was lower than for high school students (13.9 percent). Among high school students, unemployment rates were much higher for blacks (29.3 percent) and Hispanics (22.8 percent) than for whites (11.6 percent). However, among college students, Hispanics and whites had similar unemployment rates (5.8 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively), much lower than that for blacks (13.7 percent). Out-of-School Youth Slightly more than four out of every five of the nation's 16- to 24-yearolds not enrolled in school were in the labor force in October 2001. Labor force participation rates for men (88.7 percent) were considerably higher than for women in this group (76.1 percent). This disparity in labor force activity between young men and women was largest among those who had not completed high school and nearly disappeared among college graduates. Black out-of-school youth had lower labor force participation rates (76.0 percent) than Hispanics (80.1 percent) or whites (83.9 percent). In addition, the unemployment rate among black out-of-school youth (21.9 percent) was more than double the rate for white youth (9.9 percent) and higher than that for Hispanic youth (12.2 percent). (See table 2.) Technical Note The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the October 2001 Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about 60,000 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. Other schooling, including trade schools; on-the-job training; and courses that do not require physical presence in school, such as correspondence courses or other courses of independent study, is included only if the credits granted count 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 2001 high school graduates and 2000-2001 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 2001 (Numbers in thousands) Civilian labor force Characteristic Civilian noninstitutional population Employed Total Unemployed Percent of population Total Percent of population Number Rate Not in labor force Total, 2001 high school graduates.. 2,545 1,522 59.8 1,252 49.2 270 17.7 1,024 Men.............................. Women............................ 1,275 1,270 746 775 58.5 61.0 619 633 48.6 49.8 127 143 17.0 18.4 529 495 White............................ 2,048 1,256 61.3 1,061 51.8 195 15.5 792 Black............................ Hispanic origin.................. 392 241 207 172 52.8 71.4 151 125 38.4 51.8 57 47 27.3 27.4 185 69 Enrolled in college.............. 1,569 735 46.8 630 40.1 105 14.3 834 Enrolled in 2-year college..... Enrolled in 4-year college..... 500 1,069 358 377 71.6 35.3 314 316 62.7 29.6 44 61 12.4 16.2 142 692 Full-time students............. Part-time students............. 1,430 139 613 122 42.9 87.5 516 114 36.1 82.0 98 8 15.9 6.3 817 17 Men............................ Women.......................... 762 808 323 412 42.4 51.0 283 347 37.1 43.0 40 65 12.5 15.8 439 395 White.......................... Black.......................... Hispanic origin................ 1,292 215 124 625 86 79 48.4 40.1 63.7 538 70 61 41.7 32.5 49.3 87 16 18 13.9 19.0 22.6 667 129 45 Not enrolled in college.......... 976 787 80.6 622 63.8 164 20.9 190 Men............................ Women.......................... 513 463 423 363 82.5 78.5 337 286 65.6 61.7 87 77 20.5 21.3 90 100 White.......................... Black.......................... Hispanic origin................ 756 177 116 631 121 93 83.5 68.3 79.6 523 81 63 69.2 45.5 54.5 108 40 29 17.1 33.3 31.5 125 56 24 Total, 2000-01 high school dropouts(1)..................... 506 324 64.0 207 41.0 116 35.9 182 Men.............................. Women............................ 298 207 198 126 66.5 60.6 130 77 43.7 37.2 68 48 34.2 38.6 100 82 White............................ Black............................ Hispanic origin.................. 401 85 119 273 42 84 68.1 49.9 70.6 185 22 57 46.0 25.7 47.6 89 21 27 32.4 (2) 32.6 128 43 35 1 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 2000 and October 2001. 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" groups 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. Table 2. Labor force status of persons 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, educational attainment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 2001 (Numbers in thousands) Civilian labor force Characteristic Civilian noninstitutional population Employed Total Unemployed Percent of population Total Percent of population Number Rate Not in labor force Total, 16 to 24 years.......... 35,195 22,458 63.8 19,996 56.8 2,461 11.0 12,737 Enrolled in school................. 18,949 9,047 47.7 8,174 43.1 873 9.6 9,902 Enrolled in high school(1)....... 8,990 3,326 37.0 2,863 31.8 463 13.9 5,664 Men............................ Women.......................... 4,747 4,244 1,699 1,628 35.8 38.4 1,420 1,443 29.9 34.0 278 185 16.4 11.4 3,048 2,616 White.......................... Black.......................... Hispanic origin................ 7,027 1,480 1,209 2,862 349 362 40.7 23.6 29.9 2,530 247 279 36.0 16.7 23.1 332 102 83 11.6 29.3 22.8 4,166 1,131 847 Enrolled in college.............. 9,958 5,721 57.4 5,311 53.3 410 7.2 4,238 Enrolled in 2-year college..... Enrolled in 4-year college..... 2,706 7,252 1,952 3,769 72.1 52.0 1,769 3,542 65.4 48.8 182 227 9.3 6.0 755 3,483 Full-time students............. Part-time students............. 8,289 1,670 4,219 1,502 50.9 89.9 3,900 1,411 47.0 84.5 319 91 7.6 6.0 4,070 168 Men............................ Women.......................... 4,585 5,374 2,503 3,217 54.6 59.9 2,317 2,993 50.5 55.7 186 224 7.4 7.0 2,081 2,156 White.......................... Black.......................... Hispanic origin................ 7,879 1,279 944 4,669 660 568 59.3 51.6 60.2 4,381 570 536 55.6 44.5 56.8 288 91 33 6.2 13.7 5.8 3,210 619 375 Not enrolled in school............. 16 to 19 years................... 20 to 24 years................... 16,246 3,727 12,519 13,411 2,822 10,589 82.5 75.7 84.6 11,822 2,260 9,562 72.8 60.7 76.4 1,588 561 1,027 11.8 19.9 9.7 2,835 905 1,930 Men.............................. 8,314 7,374 88.7 6,475 77.9 898 12.2 940 Less than a high school diploma High school graduates, no college....................... Less than a bachelor's degree.. College graduates.............. 2,151 1,787 83.1 1,459 67.8 328 18.3 364 3,836 1,675 652 3,386 1,580 621 88.3 94.3 95.2 2,969 1,473 574 77.4 87.9 88.0 417 107 47 12.3 6.8 7.5 450 95 31 Women............................ Less than a high school diploma High school graduates, no college....................... Less than a bachelor's degree.. College graduates.............. 7,932 1,623 6,037 967 76.1 59.6 5,347 736 67.4 45.3 690 231 11.4 23.9 1,895 656 3,559 1,842 907 2,651 1,567 852 74.5 85.1 93.9 2,328 1,460 823 65.4 79.3 90.7 323 107 29 12.2 6.8 3.4 908 275 55 White............................ Black............................ Hispanic origin.................. 13,107 2,497 3,197 10,995 1,898 2,560 83.9 76.0 80.1 9,901 1,482 2,248 75.5 59.3 70.3 1,094 416 313 9.9 21.9 12.2 2,112 599 636 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" groups 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.