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Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 07-0604
http://www.bls.gov/cps/
For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact: 691-5902 Thursday, April 26, 2007
COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF
2006 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
In October 2006, 65.8 percent of high school graduates from the class of
2006 were enrolled in colleges or universities, according to data released
today by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since
2001, the college enrollment rate for recent high school graduates has been
trending upward.
Information on school enrollment and work activity is collected monthly
in the Current Population Survey (CPS). Each October, a supplement to the
basic CPS gathers more detailed information on full-time and part-time en-
rollment status, level of education, and enrollment status a year earlier.
The CPS is a monthly nationwide survey of about 60,000 households that ob-
tains 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 2.5 million youth who graduated from high school between October
2005 and October 2006, 1.6 million (65.8 percent) were attending college in
October 2006. The college enrollment rate of young women, 66.0 percent, was
about the same as that of young men, 65.5 percent. Asians were considerably
more likely than whites, blacks, and Hispanics to be enrolled in college in
the fall following their high school graduation.
Among recent high school graduates enrolled in college, 92.3 percent were
full-time students. Of these full-time students, 40.8 percent were in the la-
bor force, either working or looking for work, in October 2006. In contrast,
81.0 percent of part-time college students participated in the labor force.
More than 6 in 10 recent high school graduates who were enrolled in college
attended 4-year institutions. The labor force participation rate for these
students was 35.0 percent, and their unemployment rate was 5.5 percent. In
contrast, 58.8 percent of recent high school graduates enrolled in 2-year in-
stitutions were in the labor force, and their unemployment rate was 11.5 per-
cent. (See table 1.)
Recent high school graduates who were not enrolled in college in the fall of
2006 were more likely than enrolled graduates to be in the labor force (76.4
versus 43.9 percent). The unemployment rate for those not enrolled in college
was 25.0 percent in October 2006, compared with 8.5 percent for their counter-
parts who were enrolled in college (either 2- or 4-year institutions).
Between October 2005 and October 2006, about 444,000 young people dropped out
of high school. The labor force participation rate for these dropouts (51.4 per-
cent) was considerably lower than the participation rate for recent high school
graduates who had not enrolled in college (76.4 percent). The unemployment rate
for recent high school dropouts (23.1 percent) was about the same as that for
recent high school graduates who were not enrolled in college (25.0 percent).
Among recent high school dropouts, young men were more likely than young women
to be participating in the labor force in October 2006 (56.0 and 45.1 percent,
respectively).
- 2 -
Youth Enrolled in School
In October 2006, 20.8 million 16- to 24-year olds were either enrolled
in high school (10.3 million) or college (10.5 million). Among high school
students, 31.4 percent were engaged in some form of labor force activity in
October. Among college students, 49.4 percent of those who were enrolled
full time also participated in the labor force, while 85.8 percent of part-
time college students were in the labor force. (See table 2.)
Overall, the unemployment rate for high school students (14.5 percent)
was higher than for college students (5.7 percent). Unemployment rates for
black (23.5 percent) and Hispanic (19.3 percent) high school students con-
tinued to be higher than for whites (12.2 percent). Among college students,
blacks had the highest unemployment rate (11.2 percent), while Hispanic and
white college students had rates that were about equal (5.4 and 5.3 percent,
respectively).
Out-of-School Youth
Of the 16.3 million 16- to 24-year olds not enrolled in school in October
2006, 81.8 percent were in the labor force. Among youth not in school, men
were more likely than women to be in the labor force, 87.9 percent compared
with 75.1 percent. 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 rates for youths who had col-
lege degrees were 7.6 percent for men and 5.0 percent for women. In con-
trast, youths without a high school diploma who were not enrolled in school
had unemployment rates of 12.6 percent for men and 25.9 percent for women.
- 3 -
Technical Note
The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the
October 2006 Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about
60,000 households which provides information on the labor force, employ-
ment, and unemployment for the nation. The survey is conducted monthly
for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau. Data re-
late 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 2006.
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 2006 high school graduates and 2005-06 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old
by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, October 2006
(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, 2006 high school graduates (1).... 2,495 1,372 55.0 1,148 46.0 224 16.4 1,123
Men.................................... 1,251 657 52.5 534 42.7 122 18.7 595
Women.................................. 1,243 716 57.5 614 49.3 102 14.2 528
White.................................. 1,987 1,144 57.6 977 49.2 166 14.5 843
Black or African American.............. 309 150 48.7 97 31.4 53 35.6 158
Asian.................................. 125 45 35.9 43 34.7 2 (2) 80
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity........... 353 199 56.4 171 48.5 28 13.9 154
Enrolled in college.................... 1,641 720 43.9 659 40.2 61 8.5 921
Enrolled in 2-year college........... 612 360 58.8 318 52.1 41 11.5 252
Enrolled in 4-year college........... 1,029 360 35.0 340 33.1 20 5.5 669
Full-time students................... 1,514 617 40.8 569 37.6 48 7.7 897
Part-time students................... 127 102 81.0 89 70.5 13 12.9 24
Men.................................. 820 316 38.5 287 34.9 30 9.3 504
Women................................ 820 404 49.2 372 45.4 31 7.8 416
White................................ 1,322 605 45.7 563 42.5 42 6.9 718
Black or African American............ 170 64 37.9 49 28.7 16 (2) 105
Asian................................ 103 33 31.7 32 30.7 1 (2) 70
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity......... 206 92 44.6 82 40.0 9 10.1 114
Not enrolled in college................ 854 652 76.4 489 57.2 163 25.0 202
Men.................................. 431 341 79.0 248 57.5 93 27.3 90
Women................................ 423 312 73.7 241 57.0 70 22.6 111
White................................ 664 539 81.2 415 62.4 124 23.1 125
Black or African American............ 139 86 61.9 48 34.7 38 44.0 53
Asian................................ 22 12 (2) 12 (2) 1 (2) 10
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity......... 147 107 72.9 89 60.4 18 17.2 40
Total, 2005-06 high school dropouts (3).. 444 228 51.4 176 39.5 53 23.1 216
Men.................................... 257 144 56.0 117 45.5 27 18.9 113
Women.................................. 187 85 45.1 59 31.4 26 30.4 103
White.................................. 334 178 53.2 144 43.0 34 19.2 156
Black or African American.............. 79 36 45.6 21 26.8 15 (2) 43
Asian.................................. 19 8 (2) 8 (2) - (2) 11
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity........... 137 64 47.1 47 34.4 17 (2) 72
1 Data refer to persons who graduated from high school between October 2005 and October 2006.
2 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000.
3 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 2005 and October 2006.
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. Dash represents or rounds to zero. Data reflect revised
population controls for the Current Population Survey introduced in January 2006.
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 2006
(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.......... 37,047 22,300 60.2 20,016 54.0 2,285 10.2 14,746
Enrolled in school................. 20,797 9,001 43.3 8,204 39.4 797 8.9 11,796
Enrolled in high school (1)...... 10,315 3,235 31.4 2,767 26.8 468 14.5 7,080
Men............................ 5,283 1,587 30.0 1,343 25.4 244 15.4 3,696
Women.......................... 5,032 1,648 32.7 1,424 28.3 224 13.6 3,384
White.......................... 7,807 2,639 33.8 2,318 29.7 321 12.2 5,168
Black or African American...... 1,724 419 24.3 321 18.6 99 23.5 1,305
Asian.......................... 341 55 16.1 48 14.0 7 (2) 286
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity... 1,720 342 19.9 276 16.1 66 19.3 1,377
Enrolled in college.............. 10,482 5,766 55.0 5,437 51.9 329 5.7 4,716
Enrolled in 2-year college..... 2,705 1,753 64.8 1,636 60.5 117 6.7 952
Enrolled in 4-year college..... 7,777 4,013 51.6 3,801 48.9 212 5.3 3,764
Full-time students............. 8,869 4,382 49.4 4,129 46.6 253 5.8 4,487
Part-time students............. 1,613 1,384 85.8 1,308 81.1 75 5.4 230
Men............................ 4,859 2,586 53.2 2,424 49.9 163 6.3 2,273
Women.......................... 5,623 3,179 56.5 3,013 53.6 166 5.2 2,444
White.......................... 8,190 4,650 56.8 4,405 53.8 245 5.3 3,540
Black or African American...... 1,303 635 48.7 564 43.2 71 11.2 669
Asian.......................... 670 282 42.1 279 41.7 3 0.9 388
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity... 1,198 717 59.8 678 56.6 39 5.4 481
Not enrolled in school............. 16,250 13,299 81.8 11,811 72.7 1,488 11.2 2,950
16 to 19 years................... 3,074 2,238 72.8 1,798 58.5 440 19.6 836
20 to 24 years................... 13,176 11,061 84.0 10,013 76.0 1,048 9.5 2,114
Men.............................. 8,564 7,530 87.9 6,692 78.1 838 11.1 1,034
Less than a high school
diploma....................... 1,925 1,528 79.4 1,335 69.4 193 12.6 397
High school graduates, no
college (3)................... 4,008 3,531 88.1 3,079 76.8 452 12.8 477
Some college or associate
degree........................ 1,674 1,567 93.7 1,444 86.3 124 7.9 106
Bachelor's degree and
higher (4).................... 958 903 94.3 834 87.1 69 7.6 55
Women............................. 7,686 5,769 75.1 5,119 66.6 650 11.3 1,916
Less than a high school
diploma....................... 1,506 796 52.9 590 39.2 206 25.9 709
High school graduates, no
college (3)................... 3,147 2,295 72.9 2,008 63.8 287 12.5 852
Some college or associate
degree........................ 1,903 1,626 85.5 1,522 80.0 105 6.4 276
Bachelor's degree and
higher (4).................... 1,130 1,052 93.0 999 88.4 53 5.0 79
White............................ 12,769 10,636 83.3 9,643 75.5 993 9.3 2,133
Black or African American........ 2,418 1,866 77.2 1,447 59.9 418 22.4 552
Asian............................ 455 340 74.6 316 69.4 23 6.9 116
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity..... 3,518 2,742 77.9 2,506 71.2 236 8.6 776
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 persons with a high school diploma or equivalent.
4 Includes persons with a bachelor's, master's, professional, and doctoral degrees.
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 2006.