For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Wednesday, April 17, 2013 USDL-13-0670 

Technical information: (202) 691-6378 • cpsinfo@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/cps 

Media contact: (202) 691-5902 • PressOffice@bls.gov 

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF

2012 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES

In October 2012, 66.2 percent of 2012 high school graduates were enrolled in colleges or universities, 

the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Recent high school graduates not enrolled in college 

in October 2012 were more likely than enrolled graduates to be working or looking for work (69.6 

percent compared with 38.2 percent). 

Information on school enrollment and work activity is collected monthly in the Current Population 

Survey (CPS), a nationwide survey of about 60,000 households that provides information on 

employment and unemployment. Each October, a supplement to the CPS gathers more detailed 

information about school enrollment, such as full- and part-time enrollment status. Additional 

information about the October supplement is included in the Technical Note. 

Recent High School Graduates and Dropouts 

Of the 3.2 million youth age 16 to 24 who graduated from high school between January and October 

2012, about 2.1 million (66.2 percent) were enrolled in college in October. The college enrollment rate 

of recent high school graduates in October 2012 was little different from the rate in October 2011 (68.3 

percent). For 2012 graduates, the college enrollment rate was 71.3 percent for young women and 61.3 

percent for young men. The college enrollment rate of Asians (82.2 percent) was higher than for recent 

white (66.6 percent), black (58.2 percent), and Hispanic (70.3 percent) graduates. (See table 1.) 

The labor force participation rate (the proportion of the population working or looking for work) for 

recent high school graduates enrolled in college was 38.2 percent. The participation rates for male and 

female graduates enrolled in college were 34.4 and 41.6 percent, respectively. 

Among recent high school graduates enrolled in college in October 2012, 87.8 percent were full-time 

students. Recent graduates enrolled as full-time students were about half as likely to be in the labor force 

(33.9 percent) as were their peers enrolled part time (69.2 percent). 

About 6 in 10 recent high school graduates enrolled in college attended 4-year institutions. Of these 

students, 30.8 percent participated in the labor force, compared with 47.9 percent of recent graduates 

enrolled in 2-year colleges. 

Recent high school graduates not enrolled in college in the fall of 2012 were more likely than enrolled 

graduates to be in the labor force (69.6 percent compared with 38.2 percent). The unemployment rate for 
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recent high school graduates not enrolled in school was 34.4 percent, compared with 17.7 percent for 

recent graduates enrolled in college. 

Between October 2011 and October 2012, 370,000 young people dropped out of high school. The labor 

force participation rate for recent dropouts (47.2 percent) was lower than for recent high school 

graduates not enrolled in college (69.6 percent). The jobless rate for recent high school dropouts was 

49.6 percent, compared with 34.4 percent for recent high school graduates not enrolled in college. 

All Youth Enrolled in High School or College 

In October 2012, 58.6 percent of the nation's 16- to -24 year olds, or 22.7 million young people, were 

enrolled in high school (10.0 million) or in college (12.7 million). The labor force participation rate 

(38.4 percent) and unemployment rate (13.7 percent) of youth enrolled in school in October 2012 were 

essentially unchanged from October 2011. (See table 2.) 

In October 2012, college students continued to be more likely to participate in the labor force than high 

school students (50.9 percent compared with 22.5 percent). Those attending college full time had a much 

lower labor force participation rate than did part-time students (45.7 and 80.7 percent, respectively). For 

both high school and college students, Asians were less likely to participate in the labor force than 

blacks, whites, or Hispanics. Female college students were somewhat more likely to be in the labor force 

(52.0 percent) than their male counterparts (49.6 percent). Female high school students were also 

somewhat more likely to be in the labor force (24.2 percent) than were males (21.0 percent). 

The unemployment rate for high school students, at 23.0 percent in October 2012, was more than twice 

the rate for college students (10.5 percent). Unemployment rates for black (39.1 percent) and Hispanic 

(32.7 percent) high school students continued to be higher than for white high school students (19.8 

percent). 

All Youth Not Enrolled in School 

In October 2012, 16.1 million persons age 16 to 24 were not enrolled in school. The labor force 

participation rate of youth not enrolled in school (79.3 percent) in October 2012 was little different 

from the rate a year earlier. Among youth not enrolled in school in October 2012, men continued to 

be more likely than women to participate in the labor force—83.6 percent compared with 74.5 percent. 

Labor force participation rates for not-enrolled men and women were highest for college graduates 

(94.1 and 93.8 percent, respectively) and lowest for men and women with less than a high school 

diploma (73.2 and 50.0 percent, respectively). (See table 2.) 

The unemployment rate (16.5 percent) for youths age 16 to 24 not enrolled in school in October 2012 

was essentially unchanged from October 2011. Among youth not in school in October 2012, 

unemployment rates for young men and young women without a high school diploma were similar 

(28.8 and 28.7 percent, respectively). Compared with youth without a high school diploma, the jobless 

rates of young men and women with at least a bachelor’s degree were much lower—8.0 and 6.2 percent, 

respectively. Black youth not enrolled in school had an unemployment rate of 29.2 percent in October 

2012, higher than the rates for their white (14.1 percent), Asian (13.9 percent), and Hispanic (17.8 

percent) counterparts. 
Technical Note 

The estimates in this release were obtained from a 

supplement to the October 2012 Current Population Survey 

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

that 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 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. Additional information about 

population controls is available on the BLS Web site at 

www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop. 

Information in this release will be made available to 

sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 

(202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (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 component of this difference that occurs 

because samples differ by chance is known as sampling error, 

and its 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. 

A full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS 

and information on estimating standard errors is available at 

www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability. 

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. 

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 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. 

Recent high school graduates. Persons who completed 

high school in the calendar year of the survey (January 

through October) are recent high school graduates. 

Recent high school dropouts. Persons who were not 

enrolled in school at the time of the survey, attended school a 

year earlier, and did not have a high school diploma are recent 

dropouts. 
Table 1. Labor force status of 2012 high school graduates and 2011-12 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years

old by school enrollment, educational attainment, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, October 2012

(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, 2012 high school graduates 1 ........... 3,203 1,563 48.8 1,161 36.3 402 25.7 1,639

Men ........................................................... 1,622 783 48.2 547 33.7 235 30.0 840

Women ..................................................... 1,581 781 49.4 614 38.8 167 21.4 800

White ........................................................ 2,421 1,229 50.8 973 40.2 256 20.8 1,192

Black or African American ........................ 471 227 48.2 123 26.1 104 45.8 244

Asian ......................................................... 174 47 26.9 29 16.6 18 2 ( ) 127

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ....................... 697 296 42.4 224 32.1 71 24.2 402

Enrolled in college .................................... 2,121 811 38.2 667 31.5 143 17.7 1,310

Enrolled in 2-year college ....................... 921 441 47.9 367 39.9 74 16.7 480

Enrolled in 4-year college ....................... 1,200 370 30.8 300 25.0 70 18.8 830

Full-time students ................................... 1,863 632 33.9 523 28.1 109 17.2 1,231

Part-time students .................................. 258 179 69.2 144 55.9 35 19.3 79

Men ......................................................... 994 342 34.4 272 27.4 70 20.4 652

Women ................................................... 1,127 469 41.6 395 35.1 74 15.7 658

White ...................................................... 1,613 657 40.7 559 34.7 97 14.8 956

Black or African American ...................... 274 88 32.0 63 22.9 25 28.7 186

Asian ....................................................... 143 29 20.0 19 13.1 10 2 ( ) 114

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 490 178 36.4 155 31.7 23 12.9 312

Not enrolled in college .............................. 1,082 753 69.6 494 45.7 259 34.4 329

Men ......................................................... 628 441 70.2 275 43.8 166 37.5 187

Women ................................................... 454 312 68.7 219 48.2 93 29.9 142

White ...................................................... 808 572 70.8 414 51.2 159 27.7 236

Black or African American ...................... 197 139 70.8 60 30.8 79 56.6 57

Asian ....................................................... 31 18 2 ( ) 10 2 ( ) 8 2 ( ) 13

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 207 117 56.6 69 33.2 49 41.4 90

Total, 2011-12 high school dropouts 3 ........ 370 174 47.2 88 23.8 86 49.6 195

Men ........................................................... 192 111 57.9 60 31.1 52 46.3 81

Women ..................................................... 178 63 35.5 28 15.9 35 2 ( ) 115

White ........................................................ 197 93 47.6 62 31.5 31 33.7 103

Black or African American ........................ 124 59 47.6 13 10.3 46 2 ( ) 65

Asian ......................................................... 19 18 2 ( ) 10 2 ( ) 8 2 ( ) 1

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ....................... 134 74 54.9 46 33.9 28 2 ( ) 60

1 Data refer to persons who graduated from high school in

January through October 2012. 2 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000. 3 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between

October 2011 and October 2012.

 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 2012

(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 ................................... 38,800 21,466 55.3 18,167 46.8 3,299 15.4 17,334

Enrolled in school ..................................... 22,718 8,717 38.4 7,520 33.1 1,196 13.7 14,002

Enrolled in high school 1 ......................... 10,033 2,262 22.5 1,742 17.4 520 23.0 7,771

Men ....................................................... 5,209 1,093 21.0 822 15.8 271 24.8 4,116

Women ................................................. 4,824 1,169 24.2 920 19.1 249 21.3 3,656

White .................................................... 7,327 1,777 24.2 1,424 19.4 353 19.8 5,550

Black or African American .................... 1,652 338 20.4 206 12.4 132 39.1 1,314

Asian ..................................................... 502 39 7.7 35 6.9 4 2 ( ) 463

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ................... 2,179 338 15.5 228 10.4 110 32.7 1,841

Enrolled in college .................................. 12,685 6,454 50.9 5,778 45.6 676 10.5 6,231

Enrolled in 2-year college ..................... 3,956 2,234 56.5 1,912 48.3 322 14.4 1,722

Enrolled in 4-year college ..................... 8,729 4,220 48.3 3,866 44.3 354 8.4 4,509

Full-time students ................................. 10,819 4,948 45.7 4,440 41.0 509 10.3 5,871

Part-time students ................................ 1,866 1,506 80.7 1,338 71.7 167 11.1 360

Men ....................................................... 5,842 2,897 49.6 2,579 44.2 318 11.0 2,945

Women ................................................. 6,843 3,558 52.0 3,199 46.7 358 10.1 3,286

White .................................................... 9,472 4,938 52.1 4,513 47.6 425 8.6 4,535

Black or African American .................... 1,716 837 48.8 682 39.8 155 18.5 879

Asian ..................................................... 937 377 40.2 341 36.3 36 9.6 561

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ................... 2,459 1,240 50.4 1,114 45.3 126 10.2 1,218

Not enrolled in school ............................... 16,082 12,749 79.3 10,647 66.2 2,102 16.5 3,333

16 to 19 years ......................................... 2,982 2,033 68.2 1,421 47.7 611 30.1 950

20 to 24 years ......................................... 13,099 10,716 81.8 9,225 70.4 1,491 13.9 2,383

Men ......................................................... 8,506 7,108 83.6 5,896 69.3 1,212 17.0 1,398

Less than a high school diploma .......... 1,427 1,045 73.2 744 52.1 301 28.8 382

High school graduates, no college 3 ..... 4,089 3,344 81.8 2,709 66.2 635 19.0 746

Some college or associate degree ....... 2,043 1,830 89.5 1,625 79.5 204 11.2 214

Bachelor’s degree and higher 4 ............ 946 890 94.1 818 86.5 72 8.0 56

Women ................................................... 7,575 5,641 74.5 4,750 62.7 891 15.8 1,934

Less than a high school diploma .......... 1,135 568 50.0 405 35.6 163 28.7 568

High school graduates, no college3 ...... 3,025 2,135 70.6 1,674 55.3 462 21.6 889

Some college or associate degree ....... 2,112 1,715 81.2 1,526 72.2 190 11.1 397

Bachelor’s degree and higher 4 ............ 1,304 1,222 93.8 1,146 87.9 76 6.2 81

White ...................................................... 12,145 9,914 81.6 8,515 70.1 1,398 14.1 2,231

Black or African American ...................... 2,606 1,866 71.6 1,320 50.7 546 29.2 739

Asian ....................................................... 536 379 70.7 327 60.9 53 13.9 157

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 3,563 2,659 74.6 2,187 61.4 472 17.8 904

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.