TEXT Table 1. Labor force status of 1995 high school graduates and 1994-95 college dropouts 16 to 24 years old by school Table 2. Labor force status of persons 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, educational attainment, sex, race, Technical information: (202) 606-6378 USDL 96-152 606-6373 For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT Media contact: 606-5902 Thursday, April 25, 1996 COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 1995 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES Sixty-two percent of the high school graduating class of 1995 were enrolled in colleges or universities in the fall, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The enrollment rate has remained steady in recent years at historically high levels. These data come from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly nationwide survey of about 50,000 households conducted for BLS by the Bureau of the Census. Each October, the survey includes special questions on the school enrollment and high school graduation status of the nation's youth 16 to 24 years of age. Recent High School Graduates and Dropouts Among the 2.6 million youth who graduated from high school in 1995, about 1.6 million were enrolled in college the following fall. Men and women were about equally likely to attend college. There were differences in enrollment status, however, between the race and ethnic groups. Sixty- three percent of the white high school graduates were enrolled in college the following fall, compared with just 54 percent of Hispanics and 51 percent of blacks. (See table 1.) Among the recent high school graduates enrolled in college, about two- thirds were attending 4-year colleges and a third were attending 2-year colleges; these proportions have not changed significantly in recent years. Those who were enrolled in 2-year colleges were much more likely to be in the labor forceworking or actively seeking workthan those in 4-year schools (64 versus 38 percent). In addition, part-time students enrolled in either 2- or 4-year colleges were nearly twice as likely to participate in the labor force as their full-time counterparts (82 versus 43 percent). Eighty percent of the recent high school graduates who were not enrolled in college participated in the labor force, nearly the same proportion as those attending college on a part-time basis. Among these labor force participants, however, the non-students were twice as likely to be unemployed as were the part-time students (20.9 versus 9.6 percent). Labor market problems were greater for the 604,000 recent high school dropouts--those who left school between October 1994 and 1995 without graduating. Only 68 percent of this group participated in the labor force, and their unemployment rate was 29.6 percent. Female high school dropouts - 2 - were less likely than their male counterparts to participate in the labor force (60 versus 74 percent) and, when they did, were more likely to be unemployed. The unemployment rates for these men and women were 28.7 and 30.9 percent, respectively. Youth Enrolled in School Of the entire population of 16- to 24-year-olds (32 million persons), over half were enrolled in either high school (8.1 million) or college (8.7 million) in October 1995. Of those enrolled in college, 8 out of 10 attended school on a full-time basis. Among high school students, 41 percent were in the labor force when surveyed, and their unemployment rate was 18.1 percent. For college students, labor force participation rates varied greatly between full- and part-time enrollees. Just over half of the full-time students were in the labor force (52 percent), while the participation rate for part-time students was 86 percent. Full-time students in the labor force also were twice as likely to be unemployed as their part-time counterparts (8.3 versus 3.9 percent). Among both high school and college students, unemployment rates were roughly equivalent for men and women, but were much higher for blacks and Hispanics than for whites. (See table 2.) Out-of-School Youth Among 16- to 24-year-olds not enrolled in school, 80 percent were in the labor force in October 1995. Labor force participation rates for men were considerably higher than for women in this group (90 versus 71 percent). This disparity in labor force activity between young men and women is largest among the least educated and nearly disappears among college graduates. Blacks and Hispanics had lower labor force participation rates and higher unemployment rates than whites. The level of educational attainment, however, was closely linked to labor market status. The jobless rate for youth who had not graduated from high school, at 22.5 percent, was far higher than the rates for high school or college graduates, 12.0 and 6.2 percent, respectively. (See table 2.) ------------------------------------------------------------- | 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. | ------------------------------------------------------------- Table 1. Labor force status of 1995 high school graduates and 1994-95 college dropouts 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 1995 (Numbers in thousands) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | Civilian labor force | _______________________________________________________ | Civilian | | | | | Not in Characteristic | noninsti-| | Percent| Employed | Unemployed | labor _____________________________________ |population| Total | popula-| | | | | | | | tion | Total |Percent of| Number | Rate | | | | | |population| | | ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | Total, 1995 high school graduates.......| 2,599 | 1,546| 59.5 | 1,284| 49.4 | 262| 16.9 | 1,053 | | | | | | | | Men...................................| 1,238 | 749| 60.5 | 602| 48.6 | 147| 19.6 | 489 Women.................................| 1,361 | 797| 58.6 | 682| 50.1 | 115| 14.4 | 564 | | | | | | | | White.................................| 2,088 | 1,278| 61.2 | 1,096| 52.5 | 182| 14.2 | 810 Black.................................| 356 | 202| 56.9 | 144| 40.4 | 59| 29.1 | 153 Hispanic origin.......................| 288 | 161| 55.9 | 96| 33.3 | 65| 40.5 | 127 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in college...................| 1,610 | 756| 47.0 | 659| 40.9 | 97| 12.8 | 853 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in 2-year college..........| 559 | 359| 64.1 | 299| 53.4 | 60| 16.7 | 201 Enrolled in 4-year college..........| 1,050 | 397| 37.8 | 360| 34.3 | 37| 9.4 | 653 | | | | | | | | Full-time students..................| 1,450 | 626| 43.2 | 541| 37.3 | 85| 13.5 | 824 Part-time students..................| 159 | 130| 81.7 | 118| 73.9 | 12| 9.6 | 29 | | | | | | | | Men.................................| 775 | 358| 46.1 | 305| 39.4 | 52| 14.7 | 417 Women...............................| 835 | 398| 47.7 | 354| 42.4 | 45| 11.2 | 436 | | | | | | | | White...............................| 1,308 | 636| 48.6 | 569| 43.5 | 67| 10.6 | 672 Black...............................| 183 | 77| 41.9 | 56| 30.5 | 21| 27.0 | 106 Hispanic origin.....................| 155 | 69| 44.6 | 40| 25.7 | 29| (1) | 86 | | | | | | | | Not enrolled in college...............| 990 | 790| 79.8 | 625| 63.1 | 165| 20.9 | 200 | | | | | | | | Men.................................| 463 | 391| 84.5 | 297| 64.1 | 94| 24.1 | 72 Women...............................| 527 | 399| 75.7 | 328| 62.3 | 70| 17.7 | 128 | | | | | | | | White...............................| 780 | 642| 82.4 | 528| 67.7 | 115| 17.9 | 137 Black...............................| 173 | 126| 72.9 | 88| 50.8 | 38| 30.3 | 47 Hispanic origin.....................| 133 | 92| 68.9 | 56| 42.1 | 36| 39.0 | 41 | | | | | | | | Total, 1994-95 high school dropouts 2/..| 604 | 409| 67.7 | 288| 47.7 | 121| 29.6 | 195 | | | | | | | | Men...................................| 339 | 251| 74.0 | 179| 52.8 | 72| 28.7 | 88 Women.................................| 265 | 157| 59.5 | 109| 41.1 | 49| 30.9 | 107 | | | | | | | | White.................................| 448 | 312| 69.8 | 227| 50.8 | 85| 27.2 | 135 Black.................................| 109 | 66| 61.0 | 40| 36.4 | 27| (1) | 42 Hispanic origin.......................| 174 | 119| 68.6 | 84| 48.5 | 35| 29.3 | 55 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000. 2 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 1994 and October 1995. 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 1995 (Numbers in thousands) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | Civilian labor force | _______________________________________________________ | Civilian | | | | | Not in Characteristic | noninsti-| | Percent| Employed | Unemployed | labor _____________________________________ |population| Total | popula-| | | | | | | | tion | Total |Percent of| Number | Rate | | | | | |population| | | ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | Total, 16 to 24 years..............| 32,379 | 20,794| 64.2 | 18,318| 56.6 | 2,476| 11.9 | 11,585 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in school......................| 16,842 | 8,301| 49.3 | 7,346| 43.6 | 954| 11.5 | 8,541 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in high school 1/............| 8,144 | 3,305| 40.6 | 2,708| 33.2 | 598| 18.1 | 4,839 | | | | | | | | Men.................................| 4,348 | 1,745| 40.1 | 1,410| 32.4 | 335| 19.2 | 2,603 Women...............................| 3,797 | 1,560| 41.1 | 1,298| 34.2 | 263| 16.8 | 2,236 | | | | | | | | White...............................| 6,251 | 2,793| 44.7 | 2,357| 37.7 | 435| 15.6 | 3,459 Black...............................| 1,418 | 376| 26.5 | 248| 17.5 | 128| 34.0 | 1,042 Hispanic origin.....................| 998 | 282| 28.3 | 212| 21.2 | 70| 24.9 | 716 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in college...................| 8,697 | 4,996| 57.4 | 4,639| 53.3 | 357| 7.1 | 3,702 | | | | | | | | Enrolled in 2-year college..........| 2,272 | 1,557| 68.5 | 1,400| 61.6 | 157| 10.1 | 715 Enrolled in 4-year college..........| 6,425 | 3,438| 53.5 | 3,239| 50.4 | 200| 5.8 | 2,987 | | | | | | | | Full-time students..................| 7,211 | 3,713| 51.5 | 3,406| 47.2 | 307| 8.3 | 3,498 Part-time students..................| 1,486 | 1,283| 86.3 | 1,233| 82.9 | 50| 3.9 | 204 | | | | | | | | Men.................................| 4,157 | 2,317| 55.7 | 2,145| 51.6 | 172| 7.4 | 1,840 Women...............................| 4,541 | 2,679| 59.0 | 2,494| 54.9 | 185| 6.9 | 1,862 | | | | | | | | White...............................| 7,128 | 4,237| 59.4 | 3,965| 55.6 | 272| 6.4 | 2,891 Black...............................| 1,013 | 486| 48.0 | 419| 41.4 | 67| 13.9 | 526 Hispanic origin.....................| 765 | 426| 55.7 | 372| 48.7 | 54| 12.6 | 339 | | | | | | | | Not enrolled in school..................| 15,537 | 12,493| 80.4 | 10,972| 70.6 | 1,521| 12.2 | 3,044 16 to 19 years........................| 3,405 | 2,491| 73.2 | 1,988| 58.4 | 503| 20.2 | 914 20 to 24 years........................| 12,132 | 10,002| 82.4 | 8,984| 74.0 | 1,018| 10.2 | 2,130 | | | | | | | | Men...................................| 7,704 | 6,906| 89.6 | 6,069| 78.8 | 837| 12.1 | 798 Less than a high school diploma.....| 1,978 | 1,611| 81.5 | 1,302| 65.8 | 309| 19.2 | 367 High school graduates, no college...| 3,508 | 3,173| 90.5 | 2,801| 79.8 | 372| 11.7 | 335 Less than a bachelor's degree.......| 1,574 | 1,502| 95.5 | 1,389| 88.2 | 114| 7.6 | 72 College graduates...................| 644 | 619| 96.2 | 578| 89.7 | 41| 6.7 | 25 | | | | | | | | Women.................................| 7,833 | 5,587| 71.3 | 4,903| 62.6 | 684| 12.3 | 2,246 Less than a high school diploma.....| 1,898 | 832| 43.8 | 592| 31.2 | 240| 28.8 | 1,066 High school graduates, no college...| 3,119 | 2,357| 75.6 | 2,062| 66.1 | 294| 12.5 | 762 Less than a bachelor's degree.......| 1,953 | 1,600| 81.9 | 1,496| 76.6 | 103| 6.5 | 353 College graduates...................| 864 | 799| 92.5 | 752| 87.0 | 47| 5.9 | 65 | | | | | | | | White.................................| 12,338 | 10,131| 82.1 | 9,087| 73.7 | 1,043| 10.3 | 2,207 Black.................................| 2,408 | 1,745| 72.5 | 1,349| 56.0 | 396| 22.7 | 663 Hispanic origin.......................| 2,723 | 1,955| 71.8 | 1,662| 61.0 | 293| 15.0 | 768 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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.