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Technical information: (202) 691-6378

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

Media contact: 691-5902

USDL 04-749

For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 2003 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES

Almost sixty-four percent of high school graduates from the class of 2003 were enrolled in colleges or

universities in the fall, according to data released today by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor

Statistics. The college enrollment rate of recent high school graduates was little changed over the year and

remains near historically high rates.

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

Of the 2.7 million youth who graduated from high school in 2003, 1.7 million (63.9 percent) were attending college in October. Young women continued to be more likely than young men to enter colleges or universities after high school—66.5 percent versus 61.2 percent. The enrollment rate for Asian high school

graduates (84.1 percent) was much higher than for white graduates (65.0 percent). Black and Hispanic

graduates were about equally likely to be college students in the fall—58.3 and 58.6 percent, respectively.

(See table 1.)

Among recent high school graduates enrolled in college, 9 out of 10 were full-time students, of whom

40.0 percent were in the labor force. In contrast, 62.3 percent of part-time college students participated in

the labor force.

Two-thirds of the 2003 high school graduates enrolled in college attended 4-year institutions. The labor

force participation rate for these students was 33.5 percent, and their unemployment rate was 16.0 percent.

In contrast, 57.8 percent of the recent graduates enrolled in 2-year institutions were in the labor force, and

their unemployment rate was 6.2 percent.

The labor force participation rate was 78.3 percent among high school graduates who did not enroll in

college in the fall of 2003. The unemployment rate for this group was 26.2 percent in October 2003, up

from 16.9 percent a year earlier.

Between October 2002 and October 2003, about 460,000 young people dropped out of high school.

The labor force participation rate for dropouts (59.3 percent) was considerably lower than the participation

rate for recent high school graduates who had not enrolled in college. Among recent high school dropouts,
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men were more likely than women to be participating in the labor force (65.6 versus 52.1 percent). The

unemployment rate for high school dropouts was 30.8 percent in October 2003.

Youth Enrolled in School

In October 2003, a total of 20.1 million 16- to 24-year olds were either enrolled in high school (9.6

million) or college (10.5 million). Among high school students, 31.4 percent were engaged in some labor

force activity in October. The labor force participation rate for high school students hovered around 40

percent throughout the 1990s, but has drifted down in recent years. Among college students who were

enrolled full time, about half participated in the labor force. In contrast, 83.7 percent of part-time college

students participated in the labor force. (See table 2.)

Overall, the unemployment rate for high school students (16.1 percent) was higher than for college

students (6.4 percent). Unemployment rates for black (33.2 percent) and Hispanic (22.7 percent) high

school students continued to be higher than for whites (13.0 percent). Likewise, among college students,

blacks had the highest unemployment rate (12.8 percent), while Hispanics and Asians had similar rates

(6.8 and 6.6 percent, respectively). The unemployment rate for white college students was 5.7 percent.

Out-of-School Youth

Of the 15.9 million 16- to 24-year olds not enrolled in school in October 2003, 81.3 percent were in

the labor force. Among youth not in school, men were more likely than women to be in the labor force.

The difference was greatest among those with less than a high school diploma, and diminished with more

education. (See table 2.)

Unemployment rates for youth not in school were lower among those with higher education levels. The

unemployment rate for youth who had college degrees was 7.2 percent for men and 6.2 percent for women.

In contrast, youth not enrolled in school with less than a high school diploma had the highest unemployment

rates—18.3 percent for men and 24.8 percent for women.
Technical Note

The estimates in this release were obtained from a

supplement to the October 2003 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 revised population

controls for the Current Population Survey introduced in

January 2003.

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

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 2003 high school graduates and 2002-03 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old 

by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, October 2003

(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, 2003 high school graduates ............. 2,677 1,470 54.9 1,190 44.4 280 19.1 1,208

 Men ........................................................... 1,306 748 57.3 591 45.2 157 21.0 558

 Women ..................................................... 1,372 722 52.6 599 43.7 123 17.1 650

 White ........................................................ 2,106 1,181 56.1 1,020 48.4 161 13.6 925

 Black or African American ........................ 333 163 49.1 80 24.1 83 50.9 170

 Asian ......................................................... 126 50 39.3 39 30.9 11 1 ( ) 77

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ....................... 314 162 51.6 135 42.9 27 16.9 152

 Enrolled in college .................................... 1,711 713 41.7 631 36.9 82 11.5 998

 Enrolled in 2-year college ....................... 574 332 57.8 311 54.2 21 6.2 243

 Enrolled in 4-year college ....................... 1,137 381 33.5 320 28.1 61 16.0 756

 Full-time students ................................... 1,580 631 40.0 559 35.4 72 11.4 949

 Part-time students .................................. 131 81 62.3 72 54.9 10 11.9 49

 Men ......................................................... 799 339 42.5 294 36.8 45 13.4 459

 Women ................................................... 913 374 41.0 338 37.0 36 9.7 539

 White ...................................................... 1,368 586 42.8 525 38.4 60 10.3 782

 Black or African American ...................... 194 55 28.3 42 21.7 13 1 ( ) 139

 Asian ....................................................... 106 45 42.6 38 35.8 7 1 ( ) 61

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 184 67 36.4 60 32.5 7 10.9 117

 Not enrolled in college .............................. 966 757 78.3 558 57.8 198 26.2 209

 Men ......................................................... 507 409 80.6 297 58.6 111 27.3 98

 Women ................................................... 459 348 75.8 261 56.9 87 25.0 111

 White ...................................................... 738 595 80.6 494 66.9 101 16.9 143

 Black or African American ...................... 139 108 78.1 38 27.5 70 64.8 30

 Asian ....................................................... 20 5 1 () 1 1 () 3 1 ( ) 16

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 130 95 73.1 75 57.7 20 21.1 35

Total, 2002-03 high school dropouts2 ........ 457 271 59.3 187 41.0 84 30.8 186

 Men ........................................................... 242 159 65.6 106 43.9 53 33.2 83

 Women ..................................................... 215 112 52.1 81 37.8 31 27.6 103

 White ........................................................ 336 215 63.9 157 46.6 58 27.1 121

 Black or African American ........................ 88 42 47.8 24 26.8 19 1 ( ) 46

 Asian ......................................................... 11 – – – – – – 11

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ....................... 124 68 54.5 51 40.7 17 1 ( ) 57

1 Data not shown where base is less than 75,000. 2 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 2002

and October 2003.

 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. 

In addition, persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be

of any race and, therefore, are classified by ethnicity as well as by race. 

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

represents or rounds to zero. Data reflect revised population controls for the

Current Population Survey introduced in January 2003.
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 2003

(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 ............................... 36,017 21,858 60.7 19,304 53.6 2,555 11.7 14,159

Enrolled in school ....................................... 20,114 8,932 44.4 8,069 40.1 863 9.7 11,182

 Enrolled in high school1 ............................ 9,610 3,019 31.4 2,531 26.3 487 16.1 6,592

 Men ......................................................... 5,031 1,562 31.0 1,310 26.0 252 16.1 3,469

 Women ................................................... 4,579 1,457 31.8 1,221 26.7 235 16.2 3,122

 White ...................................................... 7,333 2,510 34.2 2,185 29.8 326 13.0 4,823

 Black or African American ...................... 1,582 351 22.2 234 14.8 116 33.2 1,232

 Asian ....................................................... 339 55 16.1 39 11.4 16 2 ( ) 284

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 1,538 340 22.1 263 17.1 77 22.7 1,198

 Enrolled in college .................................... 10,503 5,914 56.3 5,538 52.7 376 6.4 4,590

 Enrolled in 2-year college ....................... 2,817 1,876 66.6 1,743 61.9 133 7.1 941

 Enrolled in 4-year college ....................... 7,686 4,038 52.5 3,795 49.4 243 6.0 3,649

 Full-time students ................................... 8,809 4,496 51.0 4,198 47.7 298 6.6 4,313

 Part-time students .................................. 1,695 1,418 83.7 1,339 79.0 79 5.5 277

 Men ......................................................... 4,751 2,649 55.8 2,467 51.9 182 6.9 2,102

 Women ................................................... 5,752 3,265 56.8 3,071 53.4 194 5.9 2,487

 White ...................................................... 8,239 4,798 58.2 4,527 54.9 271 5.7 3,441

 Black or African American ...................... 1,253 600 47.9 524 41.8 77 12.8 653

 Asian ....................................................... 709 310 43.8 290 40.9 21 6.6 399

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ..................... 1,124 651 57.9 607 54.0 44 6.8 473

Not enrolled in school ................................. 15,903 12,926 81.3 11,235 70.6 1,691 13.1 2,977

 16 to 19 years ........................................... 3,112 2,264 72.7 1,761 56.6 503 22.2 849

 20 to 24 years ........................................... 12,791 10,663 83.4 9,474 74.1 1,189 11.1 2,129

 Men ........................................................... 8,317 7,266 87.4 6,313 75.9 953 13.1 1,051

 Less than a high school diploma ............ 2,045 1,620 79.2 1,324 64.7 296 18.3 425

 High school graduates, no college 3 ....... 3,852 3,396 88.2 2,938 76.3 458 13.5 456

 Some college or associate degree ......... 1,638 1,520 92.8 1,374 83.9 146 9.6 118

 Bachelor’s degree and higher ................. 782 730 93.3 677 86.6 53 7.2 52

 Women ..................................................... 7,587 5,660 74.6 4,922 64.9 738 13.0 1,926

 Less than a high school diploma ............ 1,506 765 50.8 575 38.2 190 24.8 742

 High school graduates, no college 3 ....... 3,281 2,435 74.2 2,074 63.2 361 14.8 846

 Some college or associate degree ......... 1,753 1,503 85.8 1,375 78.5 128 8.5 249

 Bachelor’s degree and higher ................. 1,046 957 91.5 898 85.8 59 6.2 89

 White ........................................................ 12,570 10,449 83.1 9,350 74.4 1,100 10.5 2,120

 Black or African American ........................ 2,345 1,742 74.3 1,288 54.9 454 26.1 603

 Asian ......................................................... 400 311 77.6 255 63.8 55 17.8 90

 Hispanic or Latino ethnicity ....................... 3,440 2,648 77.0 2,323 67.5 325 12.3 792

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 high school diploma or equivalent.

 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. 

In addition, persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be

of any race and, therefore, are classified by ethnicity as well as by race. 

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

reflect revised population controls for the Current Population Survey

introduced in January 2003.