The .gov means it's official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information,
make sure you're on a federal government site.
The site is secure. The
https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any
information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
Back to school: enrollment and employment in October 2014
August 31, 2015
It’s that time of year when millions of students head back to school. Let’s take a look at how many people attend high school and college in the United States and how many of them work. In October 2014, 9.4 million people ages 16 to 24 were enrolled in high school. Another 12.3 million young people attended college, 3.3 million at 2-year colleges and 9.1 million at 4-year colleges. There were 16.9 million 16- to 24-year-olds who did not attend school.
Labor force status of people ages 16 to 24 in October 2014 by school enrollment
Characteristic
Population
Employed
Unemployed
Not in labor force
Enrolled in high school
9,445,000
1,722,000
387,000
7,335,000
Enrolled in 2-year college
3,288,000
1,752,000
184,000
1,351,000
Enrolled in 4-year college
9,057,000
3,967,000
266,000
4,824,000
Not enrolled in school
16,861,000
11,482,000
1,828,000
3,550,000
College students were more likely to work than high school students. Among students at 2-year colleges, 53.3 percent were employed in October 2014. By comparison, 43.8 percent of students at 4-year colleges were employed. Among high school students, 1.7 million–or 18.2 percent–had jobs in October 2014. Young people not enrolled in school were the most likely to work; 68.1 percent of 16- to 24-year-olds who were not enrolled in school had jobs in October 2014.
These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see “College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2014 High School Graduates” (HTML) (PDF).
United States Department of Labor
