Young adult employment varies by education

At age 25, people with more education were more likely to be employed than people with less education. Among people who had completed a bachelor's degree or more education and were no longer enrolled in school, 91 percent were employed in civilian jobs during October when age 25. Another 2 percent were serving in the Armed Forces. In comparison, 60 percent of high school dropouts were employed in civilian jobs in the October they were age 25 and only 0.1 percent were in the Armed Forces.

 

Seventy-six percent of 25-year-old high school graduates who had never enrolled in college were employed in civilian jobs, and another 3 percent were serving in the Armed Forces. At the same age, 81 percent of high school graduates who had some college experience but had not earned a bachelor's degree were employed in civilian jobs, and 3 percent were serving in the Armed Forces.

Among people who had completed a bachelor's degree or more education, the percentage employed varied little depending on sex, race, or Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. Among those with less educational attainment, there were larger differences among the demographic groups in the percentage employed. For example, among people who had graduated from high school but never attended college, 87 percent of men were employed in civilian or military jobs at age 25, compared with 68 percent of women. White and Hispanic or Latino high school graduates were more likely than Black graduates to be employed at age 25.

These data are from the National Longitudinal Surveys program. To learn more, see “America’s Youth at 25: School Enrollment, Number of Jobs Held and Labor Market Activity: Results from a Longitudinal Survey” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL‑13‑0339.