Economic News Release

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378      USDL 09-0454
               http://www.bls.gov/cps/
                                            For release:  10:00 A.M. (EDT)
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902      Tuesday, April 28, 2009
                                   
                                   
                COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF
                      2008 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES


   In October 2008, 68.6 percent of 2008 high school graduates were en-
rolled in colleges or universities, according to data released today by 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.

   Information on school enrollment and work activity is collected month-
ly in the Current Population Survey (CPS).  Each October, a supplement to 
the basic CPS gathers more detailed information on employment, unemploy-
ment, 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 3.2 million youth who graduated from high school from October 
2007 to October 2008, 2.2 million (68.6 percent) were attending college 
in October 2008.  College enrollment rates were 71.5 percent for young 
women and 65.9 percent for young men.  (See table 1.)

   The labor force participation rate (the proportion of the population 
with a job or looking for work) was higher for young women enrolled in 
college (46.1 percent) than for their male counterparts (36.0 percent).

   Among recent high school graduates enrolled in college in October
2008, 93.2 percent were full-time students.  The labor force partici-
pation rate was 38.5 percent for full-time students and 75.9 percent 
for part-time students.

   About 6 in 10 recent high school graduates who were enrolled in
college attended 4-year institutions.  Of these students, 31.0 percent
participated in the labor force, while 55.9 percent of recent graduates 
enrolled in 2-year colleges were in the labor force.

   Recent high school graduates not enrolled in college in the fall of 
2008 were more likely than enrolled graduates to be in the labor force 
(76.4 versus 41.1 percent).  The unemployment rate for high school grad-
uates not enrolled in college was 26.7 percent, compared with 14.9 per-
cent for graduates enrolled in college (in either 2- or 4-year institu-
tions.)

   From October 2007 to October 2008, 400,000 persons between the ages
of 16 and 24 dropped out of high school.  The labor force participation 
rate for dropouts (48.4 percent) was lower than for recent high school 
graduates not enrolled in college (76.4 percent).  The jobless rate for 
recent high school dropouts was 39.5 percent.

Youth Enrolled in School

   In October 2008, 56.8 percent of the nation's 16- to 24-year-olds,
or 21.3 million young people, were either enrolled in high school (9.7
million) or in college (11.7 million).  (See table 2.)

                             - 2 -   

   College students were more likely to participate in the labor force
than high school students (54.1 percent compared with 27.5 percent).
Among college students, those attending full time had lower participa-
tion rates than part-time students.  The rate of labor force partici-
pation was higher for female college students (56.6 percent) than for 
their male counterparts (51.2 percent).

   The unemployment rate for high school students, at 21.1 percent in
October 2008, was higher than for college students (8.0 percent).  The 
jobless rate for white high school students was 19.7 percent, which was 
lower than for black high school students (30.5 percent) and for His-
panic high school students (34.8 percent).  Among college students, the 
white unemployment rate of 7.4 percent was below that for black students 
(14.3 percent) and Hispanic students (12.0 percent).

Out-of-School Youth

   In October 2008, 16.2 million persons age 16 to 24 were not enrolled
in school.  Of these out-of-school youth, 79.9 percent were in the labor 
force.  Young men who were not in school were more likely to be working 
or looking for work (85.4 percent) than young women not in school (73.9 
percent).  Labor force participation rates for out-of-school men and 
women were highest for college graduates and lowest for those with less 
than a high school diploma.  (See table 2.)

   The unemployment rate for out-of-school youth age 16 to 24 was 14.2 
percent in October 2008.  Among the educational attainment categories, 
unemployment rates for youth not in school were highest for those with-
out a high school diploma--26.3 percent for young men and 25.0 percent 
for young women.  In contrast, the unemployment rates for young male and 
female college graduates were 8.7 and 6.6 percent, respectively.  Black 
out-of-school youth had an unemployment rate of 23.7 percent in October 
2008, compared with 12.4 percent for whites, 15.1 percent for Hispanics, 
and 7.3 percent for Asians.