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.)
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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.
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Technical Note
The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the
October 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about
60,000 households that 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 in
this release 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 October. Updated population controls for
the Current Population Survey are introduced annually with the release of
January data.
The supplement weights used in estimation were revised with the release
of October 2007 data. An additional weighting step was added in order to
bring the CPS estimates for persons receiving a high school diploma or GED
more in line with administrative records. The 2007 and 2008 October supple-
ment data are not strictly comparable with published estimates from earlier
years.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; TDD message refer-
ral 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 de-
pending 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 informa-
tion on estimating standard errors, see the Household Data section of the
"Explanatory Notes and Estimates of Error" at http://www.bls.gov/cps/eetech_
methods.pdf.
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.
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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 classi-
fied 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 educa-
tion. 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 2008 high school graduates and 2007-08 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old
by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, October 2008
(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, 2008 high school
graduates (1) .................... 3,151 1,644 52.2 1,310 41.6 334 20.3 1,507
Men............................ 1,640 827 50.4 641 39.1 186 22.5 813
Women.......................... 1,511 817 54.1 668 44.2 148 18.2 694
White.......................... 2,521 1,373 54.5 1,114 44.2 260 18.9 1,148
Black or African American...... 428 202 47.3 148 34.6 54 26.9 226
Asian.......................... 96 22 23.0 22 23.0 - - 74
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity... 458 246 53.7 185 40.4 61 24.8 212
Enrolled in college.............. 2,161 888 41.1 756 35.0 132 14.9 1,274
Enrolled in 2-year college..... 871 488 55.9 419 48.1 69 14.1 384
Enrolled in 4-year college..... 1,290 400 31.0 337 26.1 64 15.9 890
Full-time students............. 2,013 775 38.5 662 32.9 113 14.5 1,238
Part-time students............. 149 113 75.9 93 62.8 20 17.3 36
Men............................ 1,080 389 36.0 327 30.3 62 15.9 691
Women.......................... 1,081 499 46.1 428 39.6 70 14.1 583
White.......................... 1,785 778 43.6 664 37.2 114 14.7 1,007
Black or African American...... 235 77 32.6 63 27.0 13 17.4 158
Asian.......................... 84 15 18.3 15 18.3 - - 69
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity... 292 130 44.6 101 34.7 29 22.2 162
Not enrolled in college.......... 989 756 76.4 554 56.0 202 26.7 234
Men............................ 560 438 78.1 314 56.1 124 28.2 122
Women.......................... 430 318 74.1 240 55.9 78 24.6 111
White.......................... 736 595 80.8 449 61.1 145 24.5 141
Black or African American...... 193 126 65.1 85 43.8 41 32.7 68
Asian.......................... 11 6 (2) 6 (2) - - 5
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity... 165 115 69.9 83 50.5 32 27.7 50
Total, 2007-08 high school
dropouts (3) ..................... 400 194 48.4 117 29.3 77 39.5 206
Men............................ 191 103 53.9 56 29.3 47 45.6 88
Women.......................... 210 91 43.4 61 29.2 30 32.7 119
White.......................... 253 142 56.2 94 37.3 48 33.6 111
Black or African American...... 117 44 37.6 20 16.8 24 (2) 73
Asian.......................... 17 - - - - - - 17
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity... 111 63 56.3 35 31.9 27 (2) 49
1 Data refer to persons who graduated from high school between October 2007 and October 2008.
2 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000.
3 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 2007 and October 2008.
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. Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be
of any race. Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Updated population controls
are introduced annually with the release of January data. Dash represents or rounds to zero.
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 2008
(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.......... 37,569 21,931 58.4 19,020 50.6 2,911 13.3 15,637
Enrolled in school................. 21,348 8,974 42.0 7,907 37.0 1,067 11.9 12,374
Enrolled in high school (1)...... 9,677 2,661 27.5 2,099 21.7 562 21.1 7,016
Men............................ 4,991 1,272 25.5 960 19.2 311 24.5 3,720
Women.......................... 4,686 1,389 29.6 1,139 24.3 251 18.0 3,297
White.......................... 7,274 2,153 29.6 1,729 23.8 424 19.7 5,120
Black or African American...... 1,604 339 21.2 236 14.7 104 30.5 1,264
Asian.......................... 349 66 18.9 57 16.4 9 (2) 283
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity... 1,804 365 20.2 238 13.2 127 34.8 1,439
Enrolled in college.............. 11,671 6,313 54.1 5,809 49.8 505 8.0 5,358
Enrolled in 2-year college..... 3,521 2,229 63.3 2,035 57.8 194 8.7 1,292
Enrolled in 4-year college..... 8,150 4,084 50.1 3,773 46.3 311 7.6 4,065
Full-time students............. 10,148 5,010 49.4 4,599 45.3 412 8.2 5,137
Part-time students............. 1,523 1,303 85.5 1,210 79.4 93 7.1 220
Men............................ 5,492 2,814 51.2 2,522 45.9 293 10.4 2,678
Women.......................... 6,179 3,499 56.6 3,287 53.2 212 6.1 2,680
White.......................... 9,283 5,289 57.0 4,900 52.8 389 7.4 3,994
Black or African American...... 1,381 630 45.6 540 39.1 90 14.3 751
Asian.......................... 680 238 35.1 223 32.7 16 6.6 441
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity... 1,385 775 55.9 682 49.2 93 12.0 610
Not enrolled in school............. 16,220 12,957 79.9 11,113 68.5 1,845 14.2 3,263
16 to 19 years................... 3,301 2,253 68.3 1,719 52.1 534 23.7 1,048
20 to 24 years................... 12,920 10,704 82.9 9,394 72.7 1,310 12.2 2,216
Men.............................. 8,465 7,229 85.4 6,028 71.2 1,201 16.6 1,236
Less than a high school diploma 1,606 1,204 74.9 887 55.2 317 26.3 403
High school graduates, no
college (3)................... 4,121 3,487 84.6 2,874 69.7 613 17.6 634
Some college or associate
degree........................ 1,859 1,696 91.3 1,498 80.6 198 11.7 162
Bachelor's degree and higher (4) 879 842 95.8 769 87.5 73 8.7 37
Women............................ 7,756 5,728 73.9 5,084 65.6 644 11.2 2,028
Less than a high school diploma 1,403 697 49.6 523 37.2 174 25.0 707
High school graduates, no
college (3)................... 3,200 2,274 71.1 1,982 61.9 292 12.8 926
Some college or associate
degree........................ 1,953 1,629 83.4 1,525 78.1 104 6.4 324
Bachelor's degree and higher (4) 1,200 1,128 94.1 1,054 87.9 74 6.6 71
White............................ 12,485 10,244 82.0 8,971 71.8 1,273 12.4 2,242
Black or African American........ 2,630 1,878 71.4 1,433 54.5 446 23.7 752
Asian............................ 435 320 73.7 297 68.3 23 7.3 114
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity..... 3,531 2,684 76.0 2,279 64.5 405 15.1 848
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 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. Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be
of any race. Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Updated population controls
are introduced annually with the release of January data.
United States Department of Labor
