Technical information:  (202)  691-6378     USDL 02-288
                http://www.bls.gov/cps/
                                            For release:  10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact:                 691-5902     Tuesday, May 14, 2002


    COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF 2001 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
   
   
   Slightly more than three in every five graduates of the 2001 high school
class were enrolled in colleges or universities in the fall, the Bureau of
Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  The college 
enrollment rate was little changed from the previous 2 years, but was below 
the record high of 67 percent in 1997.
   
   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 2.5 million members of the 2001 high school graduating class,
1.6 million (61.7 percent) were enrolled in college the following October.
The college enrollment rate of young women was 63.6 percent, compared with
59.8 percent for young men.  The percentage of young women attending college 
following high school graduation has exceeded that of young men in almost 
every year since 1988.  Among race and ethnic groups, a greater percentage 
of white graduates (63.1 percent) were enrolled in college than were black 
(54.8 percent) or Hispanic (51.5 percent) graduates.  (See table 1.)
   
   The vast majority of recent high school graduates who enrolled in college 
in the fall attended full time.  Of these full-time students, 42.9 percent 
were employed or looking for work in October 2001, compared with 87.5 percent 
of part-time college students.  Similarly, a much smaller proportion of 
students attending 4-year institutions (35.3 percent) participated in the 
labor force than students attending 2-year schools (71.6 percent).  This 
partly reflects the fact that students enrolled in 2-year colleges were more 
likely to attend part time (31.3 percent) than students enrolled in 4-year 
colleges (11.3 percent).
   
   Among recent high school graduates not enrolled in college in the fall,
80.6 percent were in the labor force in October 2001.  Their employment-
population ratio--the proportion of the population with jobs--declined from
69.7 percent in 2000 to 63.8 percent in 2001.  Over the same period, their
unemployment rate increased from 13.1 percent to 20.9 percent, in line with
the weakened economy.
   
   Between October 2000 and October 2001, slightly more than half a million
youths dropped out of high school.  Among these high school dropouts, 
64.0 percent participated in the labor force in October 2001.  The unemploy-
ment rate for this group was 35.9 percent--a full 15 percentage points higher
than the unemployment rate for recent high school graduates who were not
enrolled in college.
   
                                  - 2 -    

Youth Enrolled in School
   
   Among all of the nation's 16- to 24-year-olds, more than half were
enrolled in school in October 2001.  Nearly 9 million were enrolled in high
school and 10 million in college.  Among high school students, 37.0 percent
were either employed or looking for work.  For college students, labor
force participation rates varied greatly between full- and part-time
students and those enrolled in 2- versus 4-year colleges.  In October 2001,
89.9 percent of part-time college students were in the labor force,
compared with 50.9 percent of full-time students.  Among students enrolled
in a 2-year college, 72.1 percent participated in the labor force; this
compares with 52.0 percent of students enrolled in a 4-year college.  
(See table 2.)
   
   Overall, the unemployment rate for college students (7.2 percent) was
lower than for high school students (13.9 percent).  Among high school
students, unemployment rates were much higher for blacks (29.3 percent) 
and Hispanics (22.8 percent) than for whites (11.6 percent).  However, 
among college students, Hispanics and whites had similar unemployment rates 
(5.8 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively), much lower than that for blacks
(13.7 percent).
   
Out-of-School Youth
   
   Slightly more than four out of every five of the nation's 16- to 24-year-
olds not enrolled in school were in the labor force in October 2001.  Labor
force participation rates for men (88.7 percent) were considerably higher
than for women in this group (76.1 percent).  This disparity in labor force
activity between young men and women was largest among those who had not
completed high school and nearly disappeared among college graduates.  Black 
out-of-school youth had lower labor force participation rates (76.0 percent) 
than Hispanics (80.1 percent) or whites (83.9 percent).  In addition, the 
unemployment rate among black out-of-school youth (21.9 percent) was more 
than double the rate for white youth (9.9 percent) and higher than that for 
Hispanic youth (12.2 percent).  (See table 2.)
   
Technical Note
   
   The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the
October 2001 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.
   
   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 2001 high school graduates and 2000-2001 high school dropouts 16 to 24 years old
   by school enrollment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, October 2001
   
   (Numbers in thousands)
                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                    
                                                                     Civilian labor force                           
                                                                                                                    
                                        Civilian                                                             Not in 
             Characteristic             noninsti-                            Employed         Unemployed     labor 
                                        tutional           Percent of                                        force 
                                       population   Total  population                                               
                                                                        Total  Percent of   Number   Rate           
                                                                               population                           
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
   Total, 2001 high school graduates..    2,545     1,522     59.8      1,252     49.2        270    17.7     1,024 
                                                                                                                    
     Men..............................    1,275       746     58.5        619     48.6        127    17.0       529 
     Women............................    1,270       775     61.0        633     49.8        143    18.4       495 
                                                                                                                    
     White............................    2,048     1,256     61.3      1,061     51.8        195    15.5       792 
     Black............................      392       207     52.8        151     38.4         57    27.3       185 
     Hispanic origin..................      241       172     71.4        125     51.8         47    27.4        69 
                                                                                                                    
     Enrolled in college..............    1,569       735     46.8        630     40.1        105    14.3       834 
                                                                                                                    
       Enrolled in 2-year college.....      500       358     71.6        314     62.7         44    12.4       142 
       Enrolled in 4-year college.....    1,069       377     35.3        316     29.6         61    16.2       692 
                                                                                                                    
       Full-time students.............    1,430       613     42.9        516     36.1         98    15.9       817 
       Part-time students.............      139       122     87.5        114     82.0          8     6.3        17 
                                                                                                                    
       Men............................      762       323     42.4        283     37.1         40    12.5       439 
       Women..........................      808       412     51.0        347     43.0         65    15.8       395 
                                                                                                                    
       White..........................    1,292       625     48.4        538     41.7         87    13.9       667 
       Black..........................      215        86     40.1         70     32.5         16    19.0       129 
       Hispanic origin................      124        79     63.7         61     49.3         18    22.6        45 
                                                                                                                    
     Not enrolled in college..........      976       787     80.6        622     63.8        164    20.9       190 
                                                                                                                    
       Men............................      513       423     82.5        337     65.6         87    20.5        90 
       Women..........................      463       363     78.5        286     61.7         77    21.3       100 
                                                                                                                    
       White..........................      756       631     83.5        523     69.2        108    17.1       125 
       Black..........................      177       121     68.3         81     45.5         40    33.3        56 
       Hispanic origin................      116        93     79.6         63     54.5         29    31.5        24 
                                                                                                                    
   Total, 2000-01 high school                                                                                       
      dropouts(1).....................      506       324     64.0        207     41.0        116    35.9       182 
                                                                                                                    
     Men..............................      298       198     66.5        130     43.7         68    34.2       100 
     Women............................      207       126     60.6         77     37.2         48    38.6        82 
                                                                                                                    
     White............................      401       273     68.1        185     46.0         89    32.4       128 
     Black............................       85        42     49.9         22     25.7         21     (2)        43 
     Hispanic origin..................      119        84     70.6         57     47.6         27    32.6        35 

     1 Data refer to persons who dropped out of school between October 2000 and October 2001.
     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.


   Table 2.  Labor force status of persons 16 to 24 years old by school enrollment, educational attainment, sex,
   race, and Hispanic origin, October 2001
   
   (Numbers in thousands)
                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                    
                                                                     Civilian labor force                           
                                                                                                                    
                                        Civilian                                                             Not in 
             Characteristic             noninsti-                           Employed          Unemployed     labor 
                                        tutional           Percent of                                        force 
                                       population   Total  population                                               
                                                                        Total  Percent of   Number   Rate           
                                                                               population                           
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
       Total, 16 to 24 years..........   35,195    22,458     63.8     19,996     56.8      2,461    11.0    12,737 
                                                                                                                    
   Enrolled in school.................   18,949     9,047     47.7      8,174     43.1        873     9.6     9,902 
                                                                                                                    
     Enrolled in high school(1).......    8,990     3,326     37.0      2,863     31.8        463    13.9     5,664 
                                                                                                                    
       Men............................    4,747     1,699     35.8      1,420     29.9        278    16.4     3,048 
       Women..........................    4,244     1,628     38.4      1,443     34.0        185    11.4     2,616 
                                                                                                                    
       White..........................    7,027     2,862     40.7      2,530     36.0        332    11.6     4,166 
       Black..........................    1,480       349     23.6        247     16.7        102    29.3     1,131 
       Hispanic origin................    1,209       362     29.9        279     23.1         83    22.8       847 
                                                                                                                    
     Enrolled in college..............    9,958     5,721     57.4      5,311     53.3        410     7.2     4,238 
                                                                                                                    
       Enrolled in 2-year college.....    2,706     1,952     72.1      1,769     65.4        182     9.3       755 
       Enrolled in 4-year college.....    7,252     3,769     52.0      3,542     48.8        227     6.0     3,483 
                                                                                                                    
       Full-time students.............    8,289     4,219     50.9      3,900     47.0        319     7.6     4,070 
       Part-time students.............    1,670     1,502     89.9      1,411     84.5         91     6.0       168 
                                                                                                                    
       Men............................    4,585     2,503     54.6      2,317     50.5        186     7.4     2,081 
       Women..........................    5,374     3,217     59.9      2,993     55.7        224     7.0     2,156 
                                                                                                                    
       White..........................    7,879     4,669     59.3      4,381     55.6        288     6.2     3,210 
       Black..........................    1,279       660     51.6        570     44.5         91    13.7       619 
       Hispanic origin................      944       568     60.2        536     56.8         33     5.8       375 
                                                                                                                    
   Not enrolled in school.............   16,246    13,411     82.5     11,822     72.8      1,588    11.8     2,835 
     16 to 19 years...................    3,727     2,822     75.7      2,260     60.7        561    19.9       905 
     20 to 24 years...................   12,519    10,589     84.6      9,562     76.4      1,027     9.7     1,930 
                                                                                                                    
     Men..............................    8,314     7,374     88.7      6,475     77.9        898    12.2       940 
       Less than a high school diploma    2,151     1,787     83.1      1,459     67.8        328    18.3       364 
       High school graduates, no                                                                                    
        college.......................    3,836     3,386     88.3      2,969     77.4        417    12.3       450 
       Less than a bachelor's degree..    1,675     1,580     94.3      1,473     87.9        107     6.8        95 
       College graduates..............      652       621     95.2        574     88.0         47     7.5        31 
                                                                                                                    
     Women............................    7,932     6,037     76.1      5,347     67.4        690    11.4     1,895 
       Less than a high school diploma    1,623       967     59.6        736     45.3        231    23.9       656 
       High school graduates, no                                                                                    
        college.......................    3,559     2,651     74.5      2,328     65.4        323    12.2       908 
       Less than a bachelor's degree..    1,842     1,567     85.1      1,460     79.3        107     6.8       275 
       College graduates..............      907       852     93.9        823     90.7         29     3.4        55 
                                                                                                                    
     White............................   13,107    10,995     83.9      9,901     75.5      1,094     9.9     2,112 
     Black............................    2,497     1,898     76.0      1,482     59.3        416    21.9       599 
     Hispanic origin..................    3,197     2,560     80.1      2,248     70.3        313    12.2       636 

     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.