Bureau of Labor Statistics Washington, D.C. 20212 

Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 09-0454 

 http://www.bls.gov/cps/ 

 For release: 10:00 A.M. (EDT) 

Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Tuesday, April 28, 2009 

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 

2008 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES

In October 2008, 68.6 percent of 2008 high school graduates were enrolled in colleges or universities, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of 

Labor. 

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

Survey (CPS). Each October, a supplement to the basic CPS gathers more detailed 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

Of the 3.2 million youth who graduated from high school from October 2007 to October 2008, 2.2 

million (68.6 percent) were attending college in October 2008. College enrollment rates were 71.5 percent for young women and 65.9 percent for young men. (See table 1.) 

The labor force participation rate (the proportion of the population with a job or looking for work) 

was higher for young women enrolled in college (46.1 percent) than for their male counterparts (36.0 

percent). 

Among recent high school graduates enrolled in college in October 2008, 93.2 percent were fulltime students. The labor force participation rate was 38.5 percent for full-time students and 75.9 percent 

for part-time students. 

About 6 in 10 recent high school graduates who were enrolled in college attended 4-year institutions. Of these students, 31.0 percent participated in the labor force, while 55.9 percent of recent 

graduates enrolled in 2-year colleges were in the labor force. 

Recent high school graduates not enrolled in college in the fall of 2008 were more likely than 

enrolled graduates to be in the labor force (76.4 versus 41.1 percent). The unemployment rate for high 

school graduates not enrolled in college was 26.7 percent, compared with 14.9 percent for graduates 

enrolled in college (in either 2- or 4-year institutions.) 

News United States 

Department 

of Labor 
2

From October 2007 to October 2008, 400,000 persons between the ages of 16 and 24 dropped out 

of high school. The labor force participation rate for dropouts (48.4 percent) was lower than for recent 

high school graduates not enrolled in college (76.4 percent). The jobless rate for recent high school 

dropouts was 39.5 percent. 

Youth Enrolled in School

In October 2008, 56.8 percent of the nation's 16- to 24-year-olds, or 21.3 million young people, 

were either enrolled in high school (9.7 million) or in college (11.7 million). (See table 2.) 

College students were more likely to participate in the labor force than high school students (54.1 

percent compared with 27.5 percent). Among college students, those attending full time had lower 

participation rates than part-time students. The rate of labor force participation was higher for female 

college students (56.6 percent) than for their male counterparts (51.2 percent). 

The unemployment rate for high school students, at 21.1 percent in October 2008, was higher than 

for college students (8.0 percent). The jobless rate for white high school students was 19.7 percent, 

which was lower than for black high school students (30.5 percent) and for Hispanic high school 

students (34.8 percent). Among college students, the white unemployment rate of 7.4 percent was 

below that for black students (14.3 percent) and Hispanic students (12.0 percent). 

Out-of-School Youth

In October 2008, 16.2 million persons age 16 to 24 were not enrolled in school. Of these out-ofschool youth, 79.9 percent were in the labor force. Young men who were not in school were more likely 

to be working or looking for work (85.4 percent) than young women not in school (73.9 percent). Labor 

force participation rates for out-of-school men and women were highest for college graduates and lowest 

for those with less than a high school diploma. (See table 2.) 

The unemployment rate for out-of-school youth age 16 to 24 was 14.2 percent in October 2008. 

Among the educational attainment categories, unemployment rates for youth not in school were highest 

for those without a high school diploma—26.3 percent for young men and 25.0 percent for young 

women. In contrast, the unemployment rates for young male and female college graduates were 8.7 and 

6.6 percent, respectively. Black out-of-school youth had an unemployment rate of 23.7 percent in 

October 2008, compared with 12.4 percent for whites, 15.1 percent for Hispanics, and 7.3 percent for 

Asians. 
Technical Note 

The estimates in this release were obtained from a 

supplement to the October 2008 Current Population Survey 

(CPS), a monthly survey of about 60,000 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. 

The supplement weights used in estimation were revised 

with the release of October 2007 data. An additional weighting step was added in order to bring the CPS estimates for persons receiving a high school diploma or GED more in line 

with administrative records. The 2007 and 2008 October 

supplement data are not strictly comparable with published 

estimates from earlier 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 

Household Data section of the "Explanatory Notes and 

Estimates of Error” at http://www.bls.gov/cps/eetech_

methods.pdf. 

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. 
Table 1. Labor force status of 2008 high school graduates and 2007-08 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old 

by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, October 2008

(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, 2008 high school graduates 1 ........... 3,151 1,644 52.2 1,310 41.6 334 20.3 1,507

 Men ......................................................... 1,640 827 50.4 641 39.1 186 22.5 813

 Women ................................................... 1,511 817 54.1 668 44.2 148 18.2 694

 White ...................................................... 2,521 1,373 54.5 1,114 44.2 260 18.9 1,148

 Black or African American ...................... 428 202 47.3 148 34.6 54 26.9 226

 Asian ....................................................... 96 22 23.0 22 23.0 – – 74

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 458 246 53.7 185 40.4 61 24.8 212

 Enrolled in college .................................... 2,161 888 41.1 756 35.0 132 14.9 1,274

 Enrolled in 2-year college ....................... 871 488 55.9 419 48.1 69 14.1 384

 Enrolled in 4-year college ....................... 1,290 400 31.0 337 26.1 64 15.9 890

 Full-time students ................................... 2,013 775 38.5 662 32.9 113 14.5 1,238

 Part-time students .................................. 149 113 75.9 93 62.8 20 17.3 36

 Men ......................................................... 1,080 389 36.0 327 30.3 62 15.9 691

 Women ................................................... 1,081 499 46.1 428 39.6 70 14.1 583

 White ...................................................... 1,785 778 43.6 664 37.2 114 14.7 1,007

 Black or African American ...................... 235 77 32.6 63 27.0 13 17.4 158

 Asian ....................................................... 84 15 18.3 15 18.3 – – 69

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 292 130 44.6 101 34.7 29 22.2 162

 Not enrolled in college .............................. 989 756 76.4 554 56.0 202 26.7 234

 Men ......................................................... 560 438 78.1 314 56.1 124 28.2 122

 Women ................................................... 430 318 74.1 240 55.9 78 24.6 111

 White ...................................................... 736 595 80.8 449 61.1 145 24.5 141

 Black or African American ...................... 193 126 65.1 85 43.8 41 32.7 68

 Asian ....................................................... 11 6 2 () 6 2 () – – 5

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 165 115 69.9 83 50.5 32 27.7 50

Total, 2007-08 high school dropouts 3 ....... 400 194 48.4 117 29.3 77 39.5 206

 Men ......................................................... 191 103 53.9 56 29.3 47 45.6 88

 Women ................................................... 210 91 43.4 61 29.2 30 32.7 119

 White ...................................................... 253 142 56.2 94 37.3 48 33.6 111

 Black or African American ...................... 117 44 37.6 20 16.8 24 2 ( ) 73

 Asian ....................................................... 17 – – – – – – 17

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 111 63 56.3 35 31.9 27 2 ( ) 49

1 Data refer to persons who graduated from high school between October

2007 and October 2008.

2 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000. 3 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 2007

and October 2008.

 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 2008

(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 ............................... 37,569 21,931 58.4 19,020 50.6 2,911 13.3 15,637

Enrolled in school ....................................... 21,348 8,974 42.0 7,907 37.0 1,067 11.9 12,374

 Enrolled in high school 1 ........................... 9,677 2,661 27.5 2,099 21.7 562 21.1 7,016

 Men ......................................................... 4,991 1,272 25.5 960 19.2 311 24.5 3,720

 Women ................................................... 4,686 1,389 29.6 1,139 24.3 251 18.0 3,297

 White ...................................................... 7,274 2,153 29.6 1,729 23.8 424 19.7 5,120

 Black or African American ...................... 1,604 339 21.2 236 14.7 104 30.5 1,264

 Asian ....................................................... 349 66 18.9 57 16.4 9 2 ( ) 283

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 1,804 365 20.2 238 13.2 127 34.8 1,439

 Enrolled in college .................................... 11,671 6,313 54.1 5,809 49.8 505 8.0 5,358

 Enrolled in 2-year college ....................... 3,521 2,229 63.3 2,035 57.8 194 8.7 1,292

 Enrolled in 4-year college ....................... 8,150 4,084 50.1 3,773 46.3 311 7.6 4,065

 Full-time students ................................... 10,148 5,010 49.4 4,599 45.3 412 8.2 5,137

 Part-time students .................................. 1,523 1,303 85.5 1,210 79.4 93 7.1 220

 Men ......................................................... 5,492 2,814 51.2 2,522 45.9 293 10.4 2,678

 Women ................................................... 6,179 3,499 56.6 3,287 53.2 212 6.1 2,680

 White ...................................................... 9,283 5,289 57.0 4,900 52.8 389 7.4 3,994

 Black or African American ...................... 1,381 630 45.6 540 39.1 90 14.3 751

 Asian ....................................................... 680 238 35.1 223 32.7 16 6.6 441

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 1,385 775 55.9 682 49.2 93 12.0 610

Not enrolled in school ................................. 16,220 12,957 79.9 11,113 68.5 1,845 14.2 3,263

 16 to 19 years ........................................... 3,301 2,253 68.3 1,719 52.1 534 23.7 1,048

 20 to 24 years ........................................... 12,920 10,704 82.9 9,394 72.7 1,310 12.2 2,216

 Men ........................................................... 8,465 7,229 85.4 6,028 71.2 1,201 16.6 1,236

 Less than a high school diploma ............ 1,606 1,204 74.9 887 55.2 317 26.3 403

 High school graduates, no college 3 ....... 4,121 3,487 84.6 2,874 69.7 613 17.6 634

 Some college or associate degree ......... 1,859 1,696 91.3 1,498 80.6 198 11.7 162

 Bachelor’s degree and higher 4 .............. 879 842 95.8 769 87.5 73 8.7 37

 Women ..................................................... 7,756 5,728 73.9 5,084 65.6 644 11.2 2,028

 Less than a high school diploma ............ 1,403 697 49.6 523 37.2 174 25.0 707

 High school graduates, no college 3 ....... 3,200 2,274 71.1 1,982 61.9 292 12.8 926

 Some college or associate degree ......... 1,953 1,629 83.4 1,525 78.1 104 6.4 324

 Bachelor’s degree and higher 4 .............. 1,200 1,128 94.1 1,054 87.9 74 6.6 71

 White ........................................................ 12,485 10,244 82.0 8,971 71.8 1,273 12.4 2,242

 Black or African American ........................ 2,630 1,878 71.4 1,433 54.5 446 23.7 752

 Asian ......................................................... 435 320 73.7 297 68.3 23 7.3 114

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ....................... 3,531 2,684 76.0 2,279 64.5 405 15.1 848

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.