TED: The Economics Daily

FONT SIZE:

PRINT:

65.9 percent of 2013 high school graduates enrolled in college

May 08, 2014

Of the nearly 3.0 million youth age 16 to 24 who graduated from high school between January and October 2013, about 2.0 million (65.9 percent) were enrolled in college in October. The college enrollment rate of recent high school graduates in October 2013 was little different from the rate in October 2012 (66.2 percent).

Chart Image
Chart Data

Percentage of 16- to 24-year-olds enrolled in college during October of the year they graduated from high school
Year	Total, percent enrolled in college	Men	Women	White	Black or African American	Asian	Hispanic or Latino
1993	62.6	59.7	65.4	62.8	55.6	—	62.5
1994	61.9	60.6	63.2	63.6	50.9	—	48.9
1995	61.9	62.6	61.4	62.6	51.4	—	53.8
1996	65.0	60.1	69.7	65.8	55.3	—	50.7
1997	67.0	63.5	70.3	67.5	59.6	—	65.5
1998	65.6	62.4	69.1	65.8	62.1	—	47.5
1999	62.9	61.4	64.4	62.8	59.2	—	42.2
2000	63.3	59.9	66.2	64.0	56.2	—	53.0
2001^(r)	61.6	59.7	63.5	63.1	54.7	—	51.2
2002	65.2	62.1	68.4	66.7	58.7	—	53.5
2003	63.9	61.2	66.5	65.0	58.3	84.1	58.6
2004	66.7	61.4	71.6	68.4	61.1	76.0	61.9
2005	68.6	66.5	70.4	69.4	56.8	87.5	54.1
2006^(r)	66.0	65.9	66.1	66.8	55.6	82.4	58.1
2007	67.2	66.1	68.3	68.7	55.2	90.9	63.9
2008	68.6	65.9	71.5	70.8	54.9	87.5	63.8
2009	70.1	66.0	73.8	69.2	68.7	92.2	59.3
2010	68.1	62.8	74.0	68.6	61.4	84.0	59.6
2011	68.3	64.6	72.3	67.7	67.5	86.7	66.6
2012	66.2	61.3	71.3	66.6	58.2	82.2	70.3
2013	65.9	63.5	68.4	67.1	59.3	79.1	59.9
Footnotes: ^(r) Data have been revised since original publication. Note: Dash indicates no data. Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race; estimates for the race groups include Hispanics. Data beginning in 1994, 2001, and 2012 are not strictly comparable with estimates for prior years due to the introduction of new population controls from the decennial census.

.tab-content-centered .tabs li {display:none;} .tab-content-centered .tabs li + li {display:block;} .tab-content-centered .panes div {display:none;} .tab-content-centered .panes div + div{display:block;}

For 2013 high school graduates, the college enrollment rate was 68.4 percent for young women and 63.5 percent for young men. The college enrollment rate of Asians (79.1 percent) was higher than the rates for recent White (67.1 percent), Black (59.3 percent), and Hispanic (59.9 percent) graduates.

In October 2013, 34.1 percent of recent high school graduates who were enrolled in college participated in the labor force—that is, they were working or looking for work. The participation rates for male and female high school graduates enrolled in college were 33.7 percent and 34.5 percent, respectively.

Chart Image
Chart Data

Labor force participation rates of 16- to 24-year-olds enrolled in college during October of the year they graduated from high school
Year	Enrolled in college	Enrolled in 2-year college	Enrolled in 4-year college	Full-time students	Part-time students	Men	Women	White	Black or African American	Asian	Hispanic or Latino ethnicity
1993	46.3	65.7	35.1	43.1	73.6	45.7	46.7	48.7	37.1	—	56.4
1994	46.4	61.2	38.7	42.7	86.9	47.7	45.2	48.7	33.9	—	53.3
1995	47.0	64.1	37.8	43.2	81.7	46.1	47.7	48.6	41.9	—	44.6
1996	46.3	61.7	37.9	42.8	86.1	44.7	47.7	49.4	40.9	—	57.4
1997	46.0	63.2	37.1	41.9	84.6	42.3	49.1	49.5	29.9	—	45.8
1998	50.1	64.1	41.8	46.7	83.2	51.1	49.1	51.2	49.4	—	63.7
1999	46.4	63.5	37.8	42.7	89.2	47.1	45.6	49.2	32.4	—	43.6
2000	46.8	64.5	37.8	43.8	78.4	48.7	45.5	48.9	36.8	—	63.3
2001^(r)	46.8	71.6	35.3	42.9	87.3	42.6	50.8	48.4	40.4	—	64.1
2002	45.4	58.0	39.2	42.6	75.7	43.9	46.9	46.6	37.9	—	49.4
2003	41.7	57.8	33.5	40.0	62.3	42.5	41.0	42.8	28.3	42.6	36.4
2004	44.8	61.1	36.5	42.1	82.4	42.6	46.6	47.5	35.9	35.4	42.0
2005	47.4	61.3	39.9	44.3	79.0	48.4	46.5	48.8	40.7	–	45.7
2006^(r)	44.2	59.4	35.2	41.2	80.7	38.9	49.5	46.0	38.4	31.7	45.1
2007	39.7	54.7	31.4	37.3	72.7	38.8	40.7	40.2	37.4	–	35.9
2008	41.1	55.9	31.0	38.5	75.9	36.0	46.1	43.6	32.6	18.3	44.6
2009	42.1	59.2	30.9	38.7	79.3	40.8	43.2	43.6	33.8	35.1	39.0
2010	40.0	52.4	32.0	36.7	71.3	41.1	38.9	42.2	35.1	19.9	37.6
2011	38.8	49.9	32.0	35.1	79.7	36.5	41.0	42.5	28.3	24.1	37.4
2012	38.2	47.9	30.8	33.9	69.2	34.4	41.6	40.7	32.0	20.0	36.4
2013	34.1	45.2	27.8	31.0	73.8	33.7	34.5	36.6	29.8	20.8	33.3
Footnotes: (r) Data have been revised since original publication. Note: Dash indicates no data. Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race; estimates for the race groups include Hispanics. Data beginning in 1994, 2001, and 2012 are not strictly comparable with estimates for prior years due to the introduction of new population controls from the decennial census.

Among recent high school graduates enrolled in college in October 2013, 92.8 percent were full-time students. The labor force participation rate was 31.0 percent for full-time students, much lower than the rate of 73.8 percent for part-time students. About 6 in 10 recent high school graduates enrolled in college attended 4-year institutions. Of these students, 27.8 percent participated in the labor force, compared with 45.2 percent of recent graduates enrolled in 2-year colleges.

This information is from a supplement to the October 2013 Current Population Survey, a monthly survey of about 60,000 households that provides national labor force data. Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. To learn more, see "College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2013 High School Graduates" (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL-14-0657.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, 65.9 percent of 2013 high school graduates enrolled in college at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2014/ted_20140508.htm (visited October 31, 2024).

OF INTEREST

Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics

Fatal Injuries to Foreign-Born Hispanic or Latino Workers
Explores the industries, occupations, and events related to these fatalities.
For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Government Sector Jobs in 2022
Compares the labor force characteristics and experiences of workers in the for-profit, nonprofit, government, and self-employed sectors.
Union Membership, Activity, and Compensation in 2022
Focuses on trends in union membership, work stoppages, and pay and benefits among union members.
A Look at a Neat Industry: Distilleries
Examines trends in employment, establishments, wages, and consumer prices for distilleries.
Healthcare Occupations: Characteristics of the Employed
Compares the demographic characteristics of workers in healthcare occupations.