BLS report: More than 60% of recent high school graduates enrolled in college
by April 24, 2024 5:15 pm 274 views
More than 61% of Americans ages 16-24 who graduated high school between January and October 2023 were enrolled in college in the fall of 2023, just slightly lower than in the same period of 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
In October 2023, 61.4% of 2023 high school graduates ages 16 to 24 were enrolled in colleges or universities, little changed from the previous year. Among 20- to 29-year-olds who received a bachelor’s degree in 2023, 70.2% were employed, down from 76.4% over the year, according to the BLS report.
Also, between January and October 2023, 1.1 million 20- to 29-year-olds earned a bachelor’s degree. Of those, 757,000, or 70.2%, were employed in October 2023. Among recent bachelor’s degree recipients, 75.2% of men were employed, compared with 66.8% of women.
Between January and October 2023, 403,000 people ages 20 to 29 earned an advanced degree – a master’s, professional, or doctoral degree. Among these recent graduates, 84.5% were employed in October 2023.
Following are other key data points in the BLS report.
• Among recent high school graduates ages 16 to 24, 57.6% of men and 65.3% of women were enrolled in college.
• Among 16- to 24-year-olds, 43.7% of recent high school dropouts were working or looking for work, lower than the labor force participation rate of 71.7% for recent high school graduates not enrolled in college.
• There were 18 million people ages 16 to 24 who were not enrolled in school, or 45.6% of all people in this age group.
• Among 20- to 29-year-olds, 61% of recent associate degree recipients, 70.2% of recent bachelor’s degree recipients, and 84.5% of recent advanced degree recipients were employed.
• Twenty-six percent of recent bachelor’s degree recipients ages 20 to 29 were enrolled in school.
• Among 20- to 29-year-olds, unemployment rates were 6.8% for recent associate degree recipients, 12.3% for recent bachelor’s degree recipients, and 6.8% for recent advanced degree recipients.