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Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 03-330
http://www.bls.gov/cps/
For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact: 691-5902 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 per-
cent) 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 percent-
age 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 full-time students, 42.6 percent were employed or looking
for work in October 2002, compared with 75.7 percent of part-time college stu-
dents. Similarly, a much smaller proportion of students attending 4-year in-
stitutions (39.2 percent) participated in the labor force than students attend-
ing 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 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 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
Civilian Not in
Characteristic noninsti- Employed Unemployed labor
tutional Percent of force
population Total population
Total Percent of Number Rate
population
Total, 2002 high school graduates.. 2,796 1,604 57.3 1,375 49.2 228 14.2 1,193
Men.............................. 1,412 829 58.7 730 51.7 100 12.0 582
Women............................ 1,384 774 55.9 645 46.6 129 16.6 610
White............................ 2,231 1,300 58.3 1,150 51.5 150 11.6 931
Black............................ 387 205 53.0 143 36.9 62 30.3 182
Hispanic origin.................. 344 215 62.6 167 48.7 48 22.2 129
Enrolled in college.............. 1,824 829 45.4 731 40.1 98 11.8 996
Enrolled in 2-year college..... 605 351 58.0 306 50.6 45 12.8 254
Enrolled in 4-year college..... 1,220 478 39.2 425 34.8 53 11.1 742
Full-time students............. 1,668 711 42.6 632 37.9 79 11.1 958
Part-time students............. 156 118 75.7 99 63.4 19 16.3 38
Men............................ 877 385 43.9 347 39.5 38 9.9 492
Women.......................... 947 444 46.9 384 40.6 60 13.4 503
White.......................... 1,488 693 46.6 622 41.8 71 10.2 795
Black.......................... 227 86 37.9 64 28.3 22 25.4 141
Hispanic origin................ 184 91 49.4 81 44.1 10 10.7 93
Not enrolled in college.......... 972 775 79.7 644 66.3 131 16.9 197
Men............................ 535 444 83.1 383 71.7 61 13.8 90
Women.......................... 437 330 75.6 261 59.7 69 21.0 107
White.......................... 743 607 81.7 528 71.0 80 13.1 136
Black.......................... 160 119 74.5 79 49.3 40 33.9 41
Hispanic origin................ 160 124 77.7 86 54.0 38 30.6 36
Total, 2001-02 high school
dropouts(1)..................... 401 271 67.7 191 47.5 81 29.8 129
Men.............................. 214 149 69.5 114 53.3 35 23.4 65
Women............................ 187 122 65.6 76 40.9 46 37.6 64
White............................ 281 188 67.0 140 49.8 48 25.6 93
Black............................ 79 55 69.8 28 35.6 27 (2) 24
Hispanic origin.................. 94 62 66.5 40 42.2 23 (2) 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
Civilian Not in
Characteristic noninsti- Employed Unemployed labor
tutional Percent of force
population Total population
Total Percent of Number Rate
population
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 school(1)....... 9,163 3,182 34.7 2,721 29.7 461 14.5 5,981
Men............................ 4,823 1,548 32.1 1,298 26.9 251 16.2 3,275
Women.......................... 4,340 1,634 37.6 1,423 32.8 210 12.9 2,706
White.......................... 7,173 2,776 38.7 2,397 33.4 379 13.6 4,397
Black.......................... 1,478 303 20.5 240 16.2 63 20.8 1,175
Hispanic origin................ 1,440 333 23.1 253 17.6 80 23.9 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..... 2,736 1,875 68.5 1,708 62.4 166 8.9 861
Enrolled in 4-year college..... 7,477 3,927 52.5 3,659 48.9 268 6.8 3,550
Full-time students............. 8,660 4,490 51.8 4,141 47.8 349 7.8 4,170
Part-time students............. 1,553 1,312 84.5 1,226 78.9 86 6.5 241
Men............................ 4,701 2,521 53.6 2,343 49.8 178 7.1 2,179
Women.......................... 5,512 3,281 59.5 3,025 54.9 256 7.8 2,232
White.......................... 8,020 4,734 59.0 4,423 55.1 311 6.6 3,287
Black.......................... 1,279 620 48.5 527 41.2 93 15.0 658
Hispanic origin................ 992 598 60.3 543 54.8 55 9.1 394
Not enrolled in school............. 16,122 13,144 81.5 11,524 71.5 1,620 12.3 2,979
16 to 19 years................... 3,361 2,490 74.1 2,021 60.1 469 18.8 871
20 to 24 years................... 12,762 10,654 83.5 9,503 74.5 1,151 10.8 2,108
Men.............................. 8,370 7,403 88.5 6,506 77.7 897 12.1 967
Less than a high school diploma 2,108 1,744 82.7 1,468 69.6 276 15.8 364
High school graduates, no
college....................... 3,876 3,428 88.4 3,010 77.7 418 12.2 448
Less than a bachelor's degree.. 1,722 1,601 93.0 1,449 84.2 151 9.5 121
College graduates.............. 664 631 95.0 579 87.2 51 8.2 33
Women............................ 7,753 5,741 74.0 5,018 64.7 723 12.6 2,012
Less than a high school diploma 1,612 888 55.1 668 41.5 220 24.7 724
High school graduates, no
college....................... 3,462 2,564 74.1 2,213 63.9 351 13.7 898
Less than a bachelor's degree.. 1,721 1,438 83.6 1,327 77.1 112 7.8 283
College graduates.............. 957 851 88.9 810 84.7 40 4.7 106
White............................ 12,854 10,683 83.1 9,605 74.7 1,078 10.1 2,171
Black............................ 2,472 1,842 74.5 1,381 55.9 461 25.0 630
Hispanic origin.................. 3,687 2,898 78.6 2,538 68.8 360 12.4 789
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.