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Technical information: Media contact: (202) 691-6378 http://www.bls.gov/cps/ 691-5902 USDL 03-330 For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT Wednesday, June 25, 2003 COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 2002 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES Over sixty-five percent of the high school graduating class of 2002 were enrolled in colleges or universities in the fall, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This proportion was 3.5 percentage points higher than a year earlier and was the highest rate reached since 1998. 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 2.8 million high school graduates in 2002, 1.8 million (65.2 percent) were enrolled in college the following October. Young men represented 50.5 percent of high school graduates in 2002, but accounted for less than half of those who enrolled in college. The college enrollment rate of young women (68.4 percent) exceeded that for young men (62.1 percent). The percentage of women attending college following high school graduation has exceeded that of men in almost every year since 1988. White graduates continued to enroll in college in greater proportions (66.7 percent) than either black (58.7 percent) or Hispanic graduates (53.5 percent). (See table 1.) Over 90 percent of recent high school graduates enrolled in college attended full time. Of these fulltime students, 42.6 percent were employed or looking for work in October 2002, compared with 75.7 percent of part-time college students. Similarly, a much smaller proportion of students attending 4-year institutions (39.2 percent) participated in the labor force than students attending 2-year schools (58.0 percent). Among recent high school graduates not enrolled in college in the fall, 79.7 percent were in the labor force in October 2002. The unemployment rate for this group was 16.9 percent. Between October 2001 and October 2002, about 400,000 persons dropped out of high school. Among these high school dropouts, two-thirds were in the labor force in October 2002. The unemployment rate for this group was 29.8 percent—almost 13 percentage points higher than the unemployment rate for recent high school graduates who were not enrolled in college. 2 Youth Enrolled in School Over half of the nation’s 35.5 million 16- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in school in October 2002. Over 9 million of these youth were enrolled in high school, and over 10 million attended college. College students were much more likely to work or look for work than were high school students (56.8 percent and 34.7 percent, respectively). The unemployment rate for college students was 7.5 percent—almost half the rate (14.5 percent) for high school students. Full-time college students were less likely to be in the labor force than part-time students, 51.8 percent versus 84.5 percent. About 3 out of 5 white and Hispanic college students were in the labor force, compared with less than half of black students. Among high school students, whites (38.7 percent) were more likely to participate in the labor force than either blacks (20.5 percent) or Hispanics (23.1 percent). (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 2002. The labor force participation rate for men in this group was 88.5 percent, compared with 74.0 percent for women. This disparity in labor force activity between young men and women appeared at all educational levels, although it was greatest among those with less than a high school diploma. Black and Hispanic out-of-school youth had lower labor force participation rates than whites. Also, the unemployment rate for black out-of-school youth (25.0 percent) was double the rate for Hispanic youth (12.4 percent) and nearly two and one-half times the rate for white youth (10.1 percent). (See table 2.) Technical Note The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the October 2002 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. Data reflect the introduction of Census 2000-based population controls and are not strictly comparable with data for previous years. 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 90percent 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 infor- mation, 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 schoool. 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 shcool, 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 2002 high school graduates and 2001-02 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 2002 (Numbers in thousands) Civilian labor force Characteristic Civilian noninstitutional population Employed Total Percent of population Total Percent of population Unemployed Number Rate Not in labor force Total, 2002 high school graduates ............. 2,796 1,604 57.3 1,375 49.2 228 14.2 1,193 Men ........................................................... Women ..................................................... 1,412 1,384 829 774 58.7 55.9 730 645 51.7 46.6 100 129 12.0 16.6 582 610 White ........................................................ Black ......................................................... Hispanic origin .......................................... 2,231 387 344 1,300 205 215 58.3 53.0 62.6 1,150 143 167 51.5 36.9 48.7 150 62 48 11.6 30.3 22.2 931 182 129 Enrolled in college .................................... 1,824 829 45.4 731 40.1 98 11.8 996 Enrolled in 2-year college ....................... Enrolled in 4-year college ....................... 605 1,220 351 478 58.0 39.2 306 425 50.6 34.8 45 53 12.8 11.1 254 742 Full-time students ................................... Part-time students .................................. 1,668 156 711 118 42.6 75.7 632 99 37.9 63.4 79 19 11.1 16.3 958 38 Men ......................................................... Women ................................................... 877 947 385 444 43.9 46.9 347 384 39.5 40.6 38 60 9.9 13.4 492 503 White ...................................................... Black ....................................................... Hispanic origin ........................................ 1,488 227 184 693 86 91 46.6 37.9 49.4 622 64 81 41.8 28.3 44.1 71 22 10 10.2 25.4 10.7 795 141 93 Not enrolled in college .............................. 972 775 79.7 644 66.3 131 16.9 197 Men ......................................................... Women ................................................... 535 437 444 330 83.1 75.6 383 261 71.7 59.7 61 69 13.8 21.0 90 107 White ...................................................... Black ....................................................... Hispanic origin ........................................ 743 160 160 607 119 124 81.7 74.5 77.7 528 79 86 71.0 49.3 54.0 80 40 38 13.1 33.9 30.6 136 41 36 Total, 2001-02 high school dropouts1 ........ 401 271 67.7 191 47.5 81 29.8 129 Men ........................................................... Women ..................................................... 214 187 149 122 69.5 65.6 114 76 53.3 40.9 35 46 23.4 37.6 65 64 White ........................................................ Black ......................................................... Hispanic origin .......................................... 281 79 94 188 55 62 67.0 69.8 66.5 140 28 40 49.8 35.6 42.2 48 27 23 25.6 (2) (2) 93 24 31 1 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 2001 and October 2002. 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. Data reflect the introduction of Census 2000-based population controls and are not strictly comparable with data for previous years. Table 2. Labor force status of persons 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, educational attainment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 2002 (Numbers in thousands) Civilian labor force Characteristic Civilian noninstitutional population Employed Total Percent of population Unemployed Total Percent of population Number Rate Not in labor force Total, 16 to 24 years ............................... 35,498 22,128 62.3 19,612 55.2 2,515 11.4 13,370 Enrolled in school ....................................... 19,376 8,984 46.4 8,088 41.7 895 10.0 10,392 Enrolled in high school1 ............................ 9,163 3,182 34.7 2,721 29.7 461 14.5 5,981 Men ......................................................... Women ................................................... 4,823 4,340 1,548 1,634 32.1 37.6 1,298 1,423 26.9 32.8 251 210 16.2 12.9 3,275 2,706 White ...................................................... Black ....................................................... Hispanic origin ........................................ 7,173 1,478 1,440 2,776 303 333 38.7 20.5 23.1 2,397 240 253 33.4 16.2 17.6 379 63 80 13.6 20.8 23.9 4,397 1,175 1,108 Enrolled in college .................................... 10,213 5,802 56.8 5,367 52.6 435 7.5 4,411 Enrolled in 2-year college ....................... Enrolled in 4-year college ....................... 2,736 7,477 1,875 3,927 68.5 52.5 1,708 3,659 62.4 48.9 166 268 8.9 6.8 861 3,550 Full-time students ................................... Part-time students .................................. 8,660 1,553 4,490 1,312 51.8 84.5 4,141 1,226 47.8 78.9 349 86 7.8 6.5 4,170 241 Men ......................................................... Women ................................................... 4,701 5,512 2,521 3,281 53.6 59.5 2,343 3,025 49.8 54.9 178 256 7.1 7.8 2,179 2,232 White ...................................................... Black ....................................................... Hispanic origin ........................................ 8,020 1,279 992 4,734 620 598 59.0 48.5 60.3 4,423 527 543 55.1 41.2 54.8 311 93 55 6.6 15.0 9.1 3,287 658 394 Not enrolled in school ................................. 16 to 19 years ........................................... 20 to 24 years ........................................... 16,122 3,361 12,762 13,144 2,490 10,654 81.5 74.1 83.5 11,524 2,021 9,503 71.5 60.1 74.5 1,620 469 1,151 12.3 18.8 10.8 2,979 871 2,108 Men ........................................................... Less than a high school diploma ............ High school graduates, no college ......... Less than a bachelor's degree ............... College graduates .................................. 8,370 2,108 3,876 1,722 664 7,403 1,744 3,428 1,601 631 88.5 82.7 88.4 93.0 95.0 6,506 1,468 3,010 1,449 579 77.7 69.6 77.7 84.2 87.2 897 276 418 151 51 12.1 15.8 12.2 9.5 8.2 967 364 448 121 33 Women ..................................................... Less than a high school diploma ............ High school graduates, no college ......... Less than a bachelor's degree ............... College graduates .................................. 7,753 1,612 3,462 1,721 957 5,741 888 2,564 1,438 851 74.0 55.1 74.1 83.6 88.9 5,018 668 2,213 1,327 810 64.7 41.5 63.9 77.1 84.7 723 220 351 112 40 12.6 24.7 13.7 7.8 4.7 2,012 724 898 283 106 White ........................................................ Black ......................................................... Hispanic origin .......................................... 12,854 2,472 3,687 10,683 1,842 2,898 83.1 74.5 78.6 9,605 1,381 2,538 74.7 55.9 68.8 1,078 461 360 10.1 25.0 12.4 2,171 630 789 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. Data reflect the introduction of Census 2000-based population controls and are not strictly comparable with data for previous years.