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USDL 03-330

For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 2002 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES

Over sixty-five percent of the high school graduating class of 2002 were enrolled in colleges or universities in the fall, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This proportion was 3.5 percentage points higher than a year earlier and was the highest rate reached since 1998.

Information on school enrollment and the work activity of high school graduates comes from an October

supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly nationwide survey of about

60,000 households that obtains information on employment, unemployment, 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

Among the 2.8 million high school graduates in 2002, 1.8 million (65.2 percent) were enrolled in college the following October. Young men represented 50.5 percent of high school graduates in 2002, but

accounted for less than half of those who enrolled in college. The college enrollment rate of young women

(68.4 percent) exceeded that for young men (62.1 percent). The percentage of women attending college

following high school graduation has exceeded that of men in almost every year since 1988. White graduates continued to enroll in college in greater proportions (66.7 percent) than either black (58.7 percent)

or Hispanic graduates (53.5 percent). (See table 1.)

Over 90 percent of recent high school graduates enrolled in college attended full time. Of these fulltime students, 42.6 percent were employed or looking for work in October 2002, compared with

75.7 percent of part-time college students. Similarly, a much smaller proportion of students attending

4-year institutions (39.2 percent) participated in the labor force than students attending 2-year schools

(58.0 percent).

Among recent high school graduates not enrolled in college in the fall, 79.7 percent were in the labor

force in October 2002. The unemployment rate for this group was 16.9 percent.

Between October 2001 and October 2002, about 400,000 persons dropped out of high school. Among

these high school dropouts, two-thirds were in the labor force in October 2002. The unemployment rate for

this group was 29.8 percent—almost 13 percentage points higher than the unemployment rate for recent high

school graduates who were not enrolled in college.
2

Youth Enrolled in School

Over half of the nation’s 35.5 million 16- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in school in October 2002.

Over 9 million of these youth were enrolled in high school, and over 10 million attended college. College

students were much more likely to work or look for work than were high school students (56.8 percent

and 34.7 percent, respectively). The unemployment rate for college students was 7.5 percent—almost half

the rate (14.5 percent) for high school students. Full-time college students were less likely to be in the labor

force than part-time students, 51.8 percent versus 84.5 percent. About 3 out of 5 white and Hispanic college students were in the labor force, compared with less than half of black students. Among high school

students, whites (38.7 percent) were more likely to participate in the labor force than either blacks (20.5

percent) or Hispanics (23.1 percent). (See table 2.)

Out-of-School Youth

Four out of five of the 16- to 24-year-olds not enrolled in school were in the labor force in October

2002. The labor force participation rate for men in this group was 88.5 percent, compared with 74.0

percent for women. This disparity in labor force activity between young men and women appeared at all

educational levels, although it was greatest among those with less than a high school diploma. Black and

Hispanic out-of-school youth had lower labor force participation rates than whites. Also, the unemployment rate for black out-of-school youth (25.0 percent) was double the rate for Hispanic youth (12.4 percent) and nearly two and one-half times the rate for white youth (10.1 percent). (See table 2.)
Technical Note

The estimates in this release were obtained from a

supplement to the October 2002 Current Population Survey

(CPS), a monthly survey of about 60,000 households which

provides information on the labor force, employment, and

unemployment for the nation. The survey is conducted

monthly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census

Bureau. Data 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

the month. Data reflect the introduction of Census 2000-based

population controls and are not strictly comparable with data

for previous years.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory

impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200;

TDD message referral 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

depending 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 information on estimating standard errors, see the

“Explanatory Notes and Estimates of Error” section of

Employment and Earnings.

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

schoool. 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.

Other schooling, including trade schools; on-the-job training;

and courses that do not require physical presence in shcool,

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 classified 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 education. 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 2002 high school graduates and 2001-02 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old 

by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 2002

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic

Civilian

noninstitutional

population

Civilian labor force

Not in

labor

Total force Percent of

population

Employed Unemployed

Total Percent of

population Number Rate

Total, 2002 high school graduates ............. 2,796 1,604 57.3 1,375 49.2 228 14.2 1,193

 Men ........................................................... 1,412 829 58.7 730 51.7 100 12.0 582

 Women ..................................................... 1,384 774 55.9 645 46.6 129 16.6 610

 White ........................................................ 2,231 1,300 58.3 1,150 51.5 150 11.6 931

 Black ......................................................... 387 205 53.0 143 36.9 62 30.3 182

 Hispanic origin .......................................... 344 215 62.6 167 48.7 48 22.2 129

 Enrolled in college .................................... 1,824 829 45.4 731 40.1 98 11.8 996

 Enrolled in 2-year college ....................... 605 351 58.0 306 50.6 45 12.8 254

 Enrolled in 4-year college ....................... 1,220 478 39.2 425 34.8 53 11.1 742

 Full-time students ................................... 1,668 711 42.6 632 37.9 79 11.1 958

 Part-time students .................................. 156 118 75.7 99 63.4 19 16.3 38

 Men ......................................................... 877 385 43.9 347 39.5 38 9.9 492

 Women ................................................... 947 444 46.9 384 40.6 60 13.4 503

 White ...................................................... 1,488 693 46.6 622 41.8 71 10.2 795

 Black ....................................................... 227 86 37.9 64 28.3 22 25.4 141

 Hispanic origin ........................................ 184 91 49.4 81 44.1 10 10.7 93

 Not enrolled in college .............................. 972 775 79.7 644 66.3 131 16.9 197

 Men ......................................................... 535 444 83.1 383 71.7 61 13.8 90

 Women ................................................... 437 330 75.6 261 59.7 69 21.0 107

 White ...................................................... 743 607 81.7 528 71.0 80 13.1 136

 Black ....................................................... 160 119 74.5 79 49.3 40 33.9 41

 Hispanic origin ........................................ 160 124 77.7 86 54.0 38 30.6 36

Total, 2001-02 high school dropouts1 ........ 401 271 67.7 191 47.5 81 29.8 129

 Men ........................................................... 214 149 69.5 114 53.3 35 23.4 65

 Women ..................................................... 187 122 65.6 76 40.9 46 37.6 64

 White ........................................................ 281 188 67.0 140 49.8 48 25.6 93

 Black ......................................................... 79 55 69.8 28 35.6 27 2 ( ) 24

 Hispanic origin .......................................... 94 62 66.5 40 42.2 23 2 ( ) 31

1 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 2001

and October 2002.

2 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000.

 NOTE: Detail for the above race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to

totals because data for the "other races" groups are not presented and

Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. 

Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Data

reflect the introduction of Census 2000-based population controls and are not

strictly comparable with data for previous years.
Table 2. Labor force status of persons 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, educational attainment, sex, race,

and Hispanic origin, October 2002

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic

Civilian

noninstitutional

population

Civilian labor force

Not in

labor

Total force Percent of

population

Employed Unemployed

Total Percent of

population Number Rate

 Total, 16 to 24 years ............................... 35,498 22,128 62.3 19,612 55.2 2,515 11.4 13,370

Enrolled in school ....................................... 19,376 8,984 46.4 8,088 41.7 895 10.0 10,392

 Enrolled in high school1 ............................ 9,163 3,182 34.7 2,721 29.7 461 14.5 5,981

 Men ......................................................... 4,823 1,548 32.1 1,298 26.9 251 16.2 3,275

 Women ................................................... 4,340 1,634 37.6 1,423 32.8 210 12.9 2,706

 White ...................................................... 7,173 2,776 38.7 2,397 33.4 379 13.6 4,397

 Black ....................................................... 1,478 303 20.5 240 16.2 63 20.8 1,175

 Hispanic origin ........................................ 1,440 333 23.1 253 17.6 80 23.9 1,108

 Enrolled in college .................................... 10,213 5,802 56.8 5,367 52.6 435 7.5 4,411

 Enrolled in 2-year college ....................... 2,736 1,875 68.5 1,708 62.4 166 8.9 861

 Enrolled in 4-year college ....................... 7,477 3,927 52.5 3,659 48.9 268 6.8 3,550

 Full-time students ................................... 8,660 4,490 51.8 4,141 47.8 349 7.8 4,170

 Part-time students .................................. 1,553 1,312 84.5 1,226 78.9 86 6.5 241

 Men ......................................................... 4,701 2,521 53.6 2,343 49.8 178 7.1 2,179

 Women ................................................... 5,512 3,281 59.5 3,025 54.9 256 7.8 2,232

 White ...................................................... 8,020 4,734 59.0 4,423 55.1 311 6.6 3,287

 Black ....................................................... 1,279 620 48.5 527 41.2 93 15.0 658

 Hispanic origin ........................................ 992 598 60.3 543 54.8 55 9.1 394

Not enrolled in school ................................. 16,122 13,144 81.5 11,524 71.5 1,620 12.3 2,979

 16 to 19 years ........................................... 3,361 2,490 74.1 2,021 60.1 469 18.8 871

 20 to 24 years ........................................... 12,762 10,654 83.5 9,503 74.5 1,151 10.8 2,108

 Men ........................................................... 8,370 7,403 88.5 6,506 77.7 897 12.1 967

 Less than a high school diploma ............ 2,108 1,744 82.7 1,468 69.6 276 15.8 364

 High school graduates, no college ......... 3,876 3,428 88.4 3,010 77.7 418 12.2 448

 Less than a bachelor's degree ............... 1,722 1,601 93.0 1,449 84.2 151 9.5 121

 College graduates .................................. 664 631 95.0 579 87.2 51 8.2 33

 Women ..................................................... 7,753 5,741 74.0 5,018 64.7 723 12.6 2,012

 Less than a high school diploma ............ 1,612 888 55.1 668 41.5 220 24.7 724

 High school graduates, no college ......... 3,462 2,564 74.1 2,213 63.9 351 13.7 898

 Less than a bachelor's degree ............... 1,721 1,438 83.6 1,327 77.1 112 7.8 283

 College graduates .................................. 957 851 88.9 810 84.7 40 4.7 106

 White ........................................................ 12,854 10,683 83.1 9,605 74.7 1,078 10.1 2,171

 Black ......................................................... 2,472 1,842 74.5 1,381 55.9 461 25.0 630

 Hispanic origin .......................................... 3,687 2,898 78.6 2,538 68.8 360 12.4 789

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" groups are not presented and

Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. 

Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Data

reflect the introduction of Census 2000-based population controls and are not

strictly comparable with data for previous years.