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1 Technical information: Media contact: (202) 691-6378 http://www.bls.gov/cps/ 691-5902 USDL 04-749 For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT Tuesday, April 27, 2004 COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 2003 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES Almost sixty-four percent of high school graduates from the class of 2003 were enrolled in colleges or universities in the fall, according to data released today by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The college enrollment rate of recent high school graduates was little changed over the year and remains near historically high rates. 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 Of the 2.7 million youth who graduated from high school in 2003, 1.7 million (63.9 percent) were attending college in October. Young women continued to be more likely than young men to enter colleges or universities after high school—66.5 percent versus 61.2 percent. The enrollment rate for Asian high school graduates (84.1 percent) was much higher than for white graduates (65.0 percent). Black and Hispanic graduates were about equally likely to be college students in the fall—58.3 and 58.6 percent, respectively. (See table 1.) Among recent high school graduates enrolled in college, 9 out of 10 were full-time students, of whom 40.0 percent were in the labor force. In contrast, 62.3 percent of part-time college students participated in the labor force. Two-thirds of the 2003 high school graduates enrolled in college attended 4-year institutions. The labor force participation rate for these students was 33.5 percent, and their unemployment rate was 16.0 percent. In contrast, 57.8 percent of the recent graduates enrolled in 2-year institutions were in the labor force, and their unemployment rate was 6.2 percent. The labor force participation rate was 78.3 percent among high school graduates who did not enroll in college in the fall of 2003. The unemployment rate for this group was 26.2 percent in October 2003, up from 16.9 percent a year earlier. Between October 2002 and October 2003, about 460,000 young people dropped out of high school. The labor force participation rate for dropouts (59.3 percent) was considerably lower than the participation rate for recent high school graduates who had not enrolled in college. Among recent high school dropouts, 2 men were more likely than women to be participating in the labor force (65.6 versus 52.1 percent). The unemployment rate for high school dropouts was 30.8 percent in October 2003. Youth Enrolled in School In October 2003, a total of 20.1 million 16- to 24-year olds were either enrolled in high school (9.6 million) or college (10.5 million). Among high school students, 31.4 percent were engaged in some labor force activity in October. The labor force participation rate for high school students hovered around 40 percent throughout the 1990s, but has drifted down in recent years. Among college students who were enrolled full time, about half participated in the labor force. In contrast, 83.7 percent of part-time college students participated in the labor force. (See table 2.) Overall, the unemployment rate for high school students (16.1 percent) was higher than for college students (6.4 percent). Unemployment rates for black (33.2 percent) and Hispanic (22.7 percent) high school students continued to be higher than for whites (13.0 percent). Likewise, among college students, blacks had the highest unemployment rate (12.8 percent), while Hispanics and Asians had similar rates (6.8 and 6.6 percent, respectively). The unemployment rate for white college students was 5.7 percent. Out-of-School Youth Of the 15.9 million 16- to 24-year olds not enrolled in school in October 2003, 81.3 percent were in the labor force. Among youth not in school, men were more likely than women to be in the labor force. The difference was greatest among those with less than a high school diploma, and diminished with more education. (See table 2.) Unemployment rates for youth not in school were lower among those with higher education levels. The unemployment rate for youth who had college degrees was 7.2 percent for men and 6.2 percent for women. In contrast, youth not enrolled in school with less than a high school diploma had the highest unemployment rates—18.3 percent for men and 24.8 percent for women. Technical Note The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the October 2003 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 revised population controls for the Current Population Survey introduced in January 2003. 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 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 2003 high school graduates and 2002-03 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, October 2003 (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, 2003 high school graduates ............. 2,677 1,470 54.9 1,190 44.4 280 19.1 1,208 Men ........................................................... Women ..................................................... 1,306 1,372 748 722 57.3 52.6 591 599 45.2 43.7 157 123 21.0 17.1 558 650 White ........................................................ Black or African American ........................ Asian ......................................................... Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ....................... 2,106 333 126 314 1,181 163 50 162 56.1 49.1 39.3 51.6 1,020 80 39 135 48.4 24.1 30.9 42.9 161 83 11 27 13.6 50.9 (1) 16.9 925 170 77 152 Enrolled in college .................................... 1,711 713 41.7 631 36.9 82 11.5 998 Enrolled in 2-year college ....................... Enrolled in 4-year college ....................... 574 1,137 332 381 57.8 33.5 311 320 54.2 28.1 21 61 6.2 16.0 243 756 Full-time students ................................... Part-time students .................................. 1,580 131 631 81 40.0 62.3 559 72 35.4 54.9 72 10 11.4 11.9 949 49 Men ......................................................... Women ................................................... 799 913 339 374 42.5 41.0 294 338 36.8 37.0 45 36 13.4 9.7 459 539 White ...................................................... Black or African American ...................... Asian ....................................................... Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 1,368 194 106 184 586 55 45 67 42.8 28.3 42.6 36.4 525 42 38 60 38.4 21.7 35.8 32.5 60 13 7 7 10.3 (1) (1) 10.9 782 139 61 117 Not enrolled in college .............................. 966 757 78.3 558 57.8 198 26.2 209 Men ......................................................... Women ................................................... 507 459 409 348 80.6 75.8 297 261 58.6 56.9 111 87 27.3 25.0 98 111 White ...................................................... Black or African American ...................... Asian ....................................................... Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 738 139 20 130 595 108 5 95 80.6 78.1 (1) 73.1 494 38 1 75 66.9 27.5 (1) 57.7 101 70 3 20 16.9 64.8 (1) 21.1 143 30 16 35 Total, 2002-03 high school dropouts2 ........ 457 271 59.3 187 41.0 84 30.8 186 Men ........................................................... Women ..................................................... 242 215 159 112 65.6 52.1 106 81 43.9 37.8 53 31 33.2 27.6 83 103 White ........................................................ Black or African American ........................ Asian ......................................................... Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ....................... 336 88 11 124 215 42 – 68 63.9 47.8 – 54.5 157 24 – 51 46.6 26.8 – 40.7 58 19 27.1 (1) – (1) 121 46 11 57 1 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000. 2 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 2002 and October 2003. NOTE: Detail for the above race groups (white, black or African American, and Asian) do not sum to totals because data are not presented for all races. – 17 In addition, persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race and, therefore, are classified by ethnicity as well as by race. Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Dash represents or rounds to zero. Data reflect revised population controls for the Current Population Survey introduced in January 2003. Table 2. Labor force status of persons 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, educational attainment, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, October 2003 (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 ............................... 36,017 21,858 60.7 19,304 53.6 2,555 11.7 14,159 Enrolled in school ....................................... 20,114 8,932 44.4 8,069 40.1 863 9.7 11,182 Enrolled in high school1 ............................ 9,610 3,019 31.4 2,531 26.3 487 16.1 6,592 Men ......................................................... Women ................................................... 5,031 4,579 1,562 1,457 31.0 31.8 1,310 1,221 26.0 26.7 252 235 16.1 16.2 3,469 3,122 White ...................................................... Black or African American ...................... Asian ....................................................... Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 7,333 1,582 339 1,538 2,510 351 55 340 34.2 22.2 16.1 22.1 2,185 234 39 263 29.8 14.8 11.4 17.1 326 116 16 77 13.0 33.2 (2) 22.7 4,823 1,232 284 1,198 Enrolled in college .................................... 10,503 5,914 56.3 5,538 52.7 376 6.4 4,590 Enrolled in 2-year college ....................... Enrolled in 4-year college ....................... 2,817 7,686 1,876 4,038 66.6 52.5 1,743 3,795 61.9 49.4 133 243 7.1 6.0 941 3,649 Full-time students ................................... Part-time students .................................. 8,809 1,695 4,496 1,418 51.0 83.7 4,198 1,339 47.7 79.0 298 79 6.6 5.5 4,313 277 Men ......................................................... Women ................................................... 4,751 5,752 2,649 3,265 55.8 56.8 2,467 3,071 51.9 53.4 182 194 6.9 5.9 2,102 2,487 White ...................................................... Black or African American ...................... Asian ....................................................... Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 8,239 1,253 709 1,124 4,798 600 310 651 58.2 47.9 43.8 57.9 4,527 524 290 607 54.9 41.8 40.9 54.0 271 77 21 44 5.7 12.8 6.6 6.8 3,441 653 399 473 Not enrolled in school ................................. 16 to 19 years ........................................... 20 to 24 years ........................................... 15,903 3,112 12,791 12,926 2,264 10,663 81.3 72.7 83.4 11,235 1,761 9,474 70.6 56.6 74.1 1,691 503 1,189 13.1 22.2 11.1 2,977 849 2,129 Men ........................................................... Less than a high school diploma ............ High school graduates, no college 3 ....... Some college or associate degree ......... Bachelor’s degree and higher ................. 8,317 2,045 3,852 1,638 782 7,266 1,620 3,396 1,520 730 87.4 79.2 88.2 92.8 93.3 6,313 1,324 2,938 1,374 677 75.9 64.7 76.3 83.9 86.6 953 296 458 146 53 13.1 18.3 13.5 9.6 7.2 1,051 425 456 118 52 Women ..................................................... Less than a high school diploma ............ High school graduates, no college 3 ....... Some college or associate degree ......... Bachelor’s degree and higher ................. 7,587 1,506 3,281 1,753 1,046 5,660 765 2,435 1,503 957 74.6 50.8 74.2 85.8 91.5 4,922 575 2,074 1,375 898 64.9 38.2 63.2 78.5 85.8 738 190 361 128 59 13.0 24.8 14.8 8.5 6.2 1,926 742 846 249 89 White ........................................................ Black or African American ........................ Asian ......................................................... Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ....................... 12,570 2,345 400 3,440 10,449 1,742 311 2,648 83.1 74.3 77.6 77.0 9,350 1,288 255 2,323 74.4 54.9 63.8 67.5 1,100 454 55 325 10.5 26.1 17.8 12.3 2,120 603 90 792 1 Includes a small number of persons enrolled in grades below high school. 2 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000. 3 Includes high school diploma or equivalent. NOTE: Detail for the above race groups (white, black or African American, and Asian) do not sum to totals because data are not presented for all races. In addition, persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race and, therefore, are classified by ethnicity as well as by race. Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Data reflect revised population controls for the Current Population Survey introduced in January 2003.