Internet address: http://stats.bls.gov/newsrels.htm Technical information: (202) 606-6378 USDL 99-175 For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT Media contact: 606-5902 Friday, June 25, 1999 COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 1998 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES Nearly two-thirds of 1998 high school graduates were enrolled in colleges or universities in the fall, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The proportion of graduates going on to college was little changed from the prior 2 years. The rate had been about 62 percent from 1992 to 1995. This information is from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about 50,000 households that provides data on employment, unemployment, and other characteristics of the population. Questions relating to school enrollment and high school graduation status are asked each October in a supplement to the basic CPS. Additional information about the October supplement is included in the Technical Note. Recent High School Graduates and Dropouts Of the 2.8 million youth who graduated from high school in 1998, 1.8 million (65.6 percent) were attending college in October. The enrollment rate of young women, 69.1 percent, continued to exceed that of young men, 62.4 percent. (See table 1.) Recent high school graduates entering 4-year colleges and universities were less likely to be in the labor force (41.8 percent) than their counterparts in 2-year colleges (64.1 percent). (Labor force participants are persons who are either employed or unemployed.) Only nine percent of recent graduates in college attended school part time, but those who did were nearly twice as likely to participate in the labor force (83.2 percent) as full-time students (46.7 percent). About four out of five recent high school graduates who were not enrolled in school were in the labor force. These youths had a higher rate of unemployment (18.4 percent) than youths enrolled in college either part time (13.2 percent) or full time (10.3 percent). Approximately half a million youths left school between October 1997 and October 1998 without graduating. The labor force participation rate of these dropouts (60.9 percent) was considerably less than that of graduates not enrolled in school (79.6 percent), and their unemployment rate was much higher--28.2 percent versus 18.4 percent. Female high school dropouts were less likely than male dropouts to participate in the labor force, and their unemployment rate was about twice that of male dropouts. Youth Enrolled in School Over half of the 33.4 million persons aged 16 to 24 were enrolled in school in October 1998--8.7 million youths were enrolled in high school (or below) and 9.4 million were in college. Two out of five of those in high - 2 - school were in the labor force, and their unemployment rate was 16.0 percent. Among college students, 59.8 percent were in the labor force; their unemployment rate was 7.0 percent. Eighty-four percent of youths enrolled in college were full-time students. These full-time students were less likely than part-time students to be in the labor force--54.2 percent versus 88.9 percent. (See table 2.) Out-of-School Youth Of the 15.3 million youths aged 16 to 24 who were not enrolled in school in October 1998, 81.7 percent were in the labor force. Out-of- school men were more likely to be in the labor force than women, and older youth (ages 20 to 24) participated in the labor force more than younger ones (ages 16 to 19). Among youth not in school, participation rates were much higher for those with a high school degree (no college)--92.5 percent for men and 76.9 percent for women--than for those without a high school diploma--77.2 percent for men and only 49.9 percent for women. The unemployment rate for those who had not graduated from high school was 15.7 percent, compared to 9.2 percent for those with a high school diploma (no college). Technical Note The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the October 1998 Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about 50,000 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 Bureau of the Census. 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. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-606-STAT; TDD phone: 202-606-5897; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-326-2577. 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. Persons attending special schools, such as trade schools or business colleges, are not included in the enrollment figures. Persons taking classes that do not require physical presence in school, such as correspondence courses or other courses of independent study, and persons attending training courses given directly on the job are counted only if the credits obtained are 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 1998 high school graduates and 1997-98 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 1998 (Numbers in thousands) Civilian labor force Civilian noninsti- Employed Unemployed Not in Characteristic tutional Percent labor population Total of force popula- Percent of Percent tion Total population Number of labor force Total, 1998 high school graduates... 2,810 1,692 60.2 1,451 51.7 241 14.2 1,118 Men............................... 1,452 922 63.5 801 55.2 121 13.1 530 Women............................. 1,358 770 56.7 651 47.9 120 15.5 588 White............................. 2,277 1,394 61.2 1,214 53.3 180 12.9 883 Black............................. 393 233 59.3 188 47.8 45 19.4 160 Hispanic origin................... 314 211 67.2 155 49.4 56 26.4 103 Enrolled in college............... 1,844 924 50.1 825 44.7 99 10.7 920 Enrolled in 2-year college...... 685 439 64.1 382 55.8 56 12.8 246 Enrolled in 4-year college...... 1,159 485 41.8 442 38.1 43 8.8 674 Full-time students.............. 1,675 783 46.7 702 41.9 80 10.3 892 Part-time students.............. 170 141 83.2 123 72.2 19 13.2 28 Men............................. 906 462 51.1 413 45.6 50 10.7 443 Women........................... 938 461 49.1 412 43.9 49 10.7 477 White........................... 1,499 767 51.2 684 45.6 83 10.8 732 Black........................... 244 121 49.4 109 44.8 11 9.3 123 Hispanic origin................. 149 95 63.7 70 47.3 25 25.8 54 Not enrolled in college........... 965 768 79.6 627 64.9 142 18.4 197 Men............................. 546 459 84.1 388 71.0 71 15.5 87 Women........................... 419 309 73.7 239 56.9 70 22.7 110 White........................... 778 627 80.6 530 68.1 97 15.5 151 Black........................... 149 113 75.6 79 52.7 34 30.2 37 Hispanic origin................. 165 116 70.3 85 51.4 31 26.9 49 Total, 1997-98 high school dropouts(1)...................... 505 308 60.9 221 43.7 87 28.2 197 Men............................... 257 164 63.9 133 51.8 31 19.0 93 Women............................. 248 143 57.8 88 35.4 56 38.7 105 White............................. 384 257 67.0 194 50.6 63 24.5 127 Black............................. 98 46 47.2 24 24.2 23 (2) 52 Hispanic origin................... 120 82 68.5 60 50.0 22 27.1 38 1 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 1997 and October 1998. 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" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Because of rounding, sum of individual items may not equal totals. Table 2. Labor force status of persons 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, educational attainment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 1998 (Numbers in thousands) Civilian labor force Civilian noninsti- Employed Unemployed Not in Characteristic tutional Percent labor population Total of force popula- Percent of Percent tion Total population Number of labor force Total, 16 to 24 years.......... 33,445 21,691 64.9 19,575 58.5 2,116 9.8 11,754 Enrolled in school................. 18,174 9,207 50.7 8,241 45.3 967 10.5 8,967 Enrolled in high school(1)....... 8,729 3,561 40.8 2,991 34.3 571 16.0 5,168 Men............................ 4,607 1,875 40.7 1,545 33.5 330 17.6 2,732 Women.......................... 4,122 1,687 40.9 1,446 35.1 241 14.3 2,435 White.......................... 6,759 3,000 44.4 2,600 38.5 400 13.3 3,759 Black.......................... 1,516 454 29.9 315 20.8 139 30.5 1,062 Hispanic origin................ 1,128 303 26.9 224 19.8 79 26.1 825 Enrolled in college.............. 9,445 5,646 59.8 5,250 55.6 396 7.0 3,799 Enrolled in 2-year college..... 2,663 1,920 72.1 1,746 65.5 175 9.1 743 Enrolled in 4-year college..... 6,782 3,726 54.9 3,504 51.7 221 5.9 3,056 Full-time students............. 7,939 4,306 54.2 3,982 50.2 324 7.5 3,633 Part-time students............. 1,506 1,340 88.9 1,268 84.1 72 5.4 167 Men............................ 4,451 2,573 57.8 2,382 53.5 191 7.4 1,878 Women.......................... 4,994 3,073 61.5 2,868 57.4 205 6.7 1,921 White.......................... 7,633 4,720 61.8 4,419 57.9 301 6.4 2,913 Black.......................... 1,137 644 56.6 569 50.0 75 11.7 493 Hispanic origin................ 829 526 63.5 458 55.3 68 12.9 303 Not enrolled in school............. 15,271 12,484 81.7 11,334 74.2 1,149 9.2 2,788 16 to 19 years................... 3,471 2,531 72.9 2,067 59.6 464 18.3 940 20 to 24 years................... 11,801 9,953 84.3 9,267 78.5 686 6.9 1,848 Men.............................. 7,795 6,922 88.8 6,308 80.9 615 8.9 873 Less than a high school diploma 2,241 1,730 77.2 1,489 66.4 241 13.9 511 High school graduates, no college......................... 3,508 3,244 92.5 2,964 84.5 280 8.6 264 Less than a bachelor's degree.. 1,483 1,399 94.3 1,326 89.4 73 5.2 84 College graduates.............. 564 550 97.5 529 93.8 21 3.8 14 Women............................ 7,476 5,561 74.4 5,026 67.2 535 9.6 1,915 Less than a high school diploma 1,701 849 49.9 685 40.3 164 19.3 852 High school graduates, no college......................... 3,151 2,424 76.9 2,184 69.3 240 9.9 727 Less than a bachelor's degree.. 1,807 1,515 83.8 1,401 77.5 114 7.5 292 College graduates.............. 817 773 94.7 757 92.7 16 2.1 44 White............................ 12,340 10,332 83.7 9,528 77.2 804 7.8 2,008 Black............................ 2,364 1,733 73.3 1,433 60.6 300 17.3 631 Hispanic origin.................. 3,077 2,377 77.3 2,134 69.3 244 10.3 699 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" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Because of rounding, sum of individual items may not equal totals.