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Digest of Education Statistics
2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 109. Percent of high school dropouts (status dropouts) among persons 16 to 24 years old, by income level, and distribution of dropouts by labor force status and educational attainment: October 1970 to October 2001

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         |Dropout   |    Dropout rate of 16- to 24-year-olds,  |Distribution of dropouts, by             |Distribution of dropouts, by
         |rate of   |        by family income quartile         |labor force status                       |  years of school completed
  Year   |16- to    |__________________________________________|_________________________________________|_______________________________
         |24-year-  |Lowest    |Middle-   |Middle-   |Highest  |      |Employed\1\|Unemployed|Not in     |      |Less |     |     |11 or
         |olds      |quar-     |low       |high      |quar-    |Total |           |          |labor      |Total |than |  9  | 10  |  12
         |          |tile      |quartile  |quartile  |tile     |      |           |          |force      |      |  9  |     |     |
_________|__________|__________|__________|__________|_________|______|___________|__________|___________|______|_____|_____|_____|______
    1    |  2       |  3       |  4       |  5       | 6       |  7   |  8        |  9       |  10       |  11  | 12  | 13  | 14  |  15
_________|__________|__________|__________|__________|_________|______|___________|__________|___________|______|_____|_____|_____|______
1970 ....|15.0 (0.3)|28.0 (0.8)|21.2 (0.6)|11.7 (0.5)|5.2 (0.3)|100.0 |49.8  (1.0)|10.3 (0.6)| 39.9 (1.0)|100.0 |28.5 |20.6 |26.8 | 24.0
1971 ....|14.7 (0.3)|28.8 (0.8)|20.7 (0.6)|10.9 (0.4)|5.1 (0.3)|100.0 |49.5  (1.0)|10.9 (0.6)| 39.6 (0.9)|100.0 |27.9 |21.7 |27.8 | 22.7
1972 ....|14.6 (0.3)|27.6 (0.8)|20.8 (0.6)|10.2 (0.4)|5.4 (0.3)|100.0 |51.2  (1.0)|10.2 (0.6)| 38.6 (0.9)|100.0 |27.5 |20.8 |29.0 | 22.7
1973 ....|14.1 (0.3)|28.0 (0.8)|19.6 (0.6)| 9.9 (0.4)|4.9 (0.3)|100.0 |53.2  (1.0)| 9.2 (0.6)| 37.5 (0.9)|100.0 |26.5 |20.9 |27.4 | 25.3
1974 ....|14.3 (0.3)| ---  --- | ---  --- | ---  --- |---  --- |100.0 |51.8  (0.9)|12.3 (0.6)| 35.9 (0.9)|100.0 |25.4 |20.1 |28.7 | 25.8
         |          |          |          |          |         |      |           |          |           |      |     |     |     |
1975 ....|13.9 (0.3)|28.8 (0.8)|18.0 (0.5)|10.2 (0.4)|5.0 (0.3)|100.0 |46.0  (0.9)|15.6 (0.7)| 38.4 (0.9)|100.0 |23.5 |21.1 |27.5 | 27.9
1976 ....|14.1 (0.3)|28.1 (0.7)|19.2 (0.6)|10.1 (0.4)|4.9 (0.3)|100.0 |48.8  (0.9)|16.0 (0.7)| 35.2 (0.9)|100.0 |24.3 |20.1 |27.8 | 27.8
1977 ....|14.1 (0.3)|28.5 (0.7)|19.0 (0.6)|10.4 (0.4)|4.5 (0.3)|100.0 |52.9  (0.9)|13.6 (0.6)| 33.6 (0.9)|100.0 |24.3 |21.7 |27.3 | 26.6
1978 ....|14.2 (0.3)|28.2 (0.7)|18.9 (0.6)|10.5 (0.4)|5.5 (0.3)|100.0 |54.3  (0.9)|12.4 (0.6)| 33.3 (0.9)|100.0 |22.9 |20.2 |28.2 | 28.8
1979 ....|14.6 (0.3)|28.1 (0.7)|18.5 (0.6)|11.5 (0.4)|5.6 (0.3)|100.0 |54.0  (0.9)|12.7 (0.6)| 33.3 (0.9)|100.0 |22.6 |21.0 |28.6 | 27.8
         |          |          |          |          |         |      |           |          |           |      |     |     |     |
1980 ....|14.1 (0.3)|27.0 (0.7)|18.1 (0.6)|10.7 (0.4)|5.7 (0.3)|100.0 |50.4  (0.9)|17.0 (0.7)| 32.6 (0.9)|100.0 |23.6 |19.7 |29.8 | 27.0
1981 ....|13.9 (0.3)|26.4 (0.7)|17.8 (0.5)|11.1 (0.4)|5.2 (0.3)|100.0 |49.8  (0.9)|18.3 (0.7)| 31.9 (0.9)|100.0 |24.3 |18.6 |30.2 | 26.9
1982 ....|13.9 (0.3)|27.2 (0.7)|18.3 (0.6)|10.2 (0.4)|4.4 (0.3)|100.0 |45.2  (1.0)|21.1 (0.8)| 33.7 (0.9)|100.0 |22.9 |20.8 |28.8 | 27.6
1983 ....|13.7 (0.3)|26.5 (0.7)|17.8 (0.6)|10.5 (0.5)|4.1 (0.3)|100.0 |48.4  (1.0)|18.2 (0.8)| 33.4 (0.9)|100.0 |23.0 |19.3 |28.8 | 28.8
1984 ....|13.1 (0.3)|25.9 (0.7)|16.5 (0.6)| 9.9 (0.4)|3.8 (0.3)|100.0 |49.7  (1.0)|17.3 (0.8)| 32.9 (1.0)|100.0 |23.6 |21.4 |27.5 | 27.5
         |          |          |          |          |         |      |           |          |           |      |     |     |     |
1985 ....|12.6 (0.3)|27.1 (0.7)|14.7 (0.6)| 8.3 (0.4)|4.0 (0.3)|100.0 |50.1  (1.1)|17.5 (0.8)| 32.4 (1.0)|100.0 |23.9 |21.0 |27.9 | 27.2
1986 ....|12.2 (0.3)|25.4 (0.7)|14.8 (0.6)| 8.0 (0.4)|3.4 (0.3)|100.0 |51.1  (1.1)|16.4 (0.8)| 32.5 (1.0)|100.0 |25.4 |21.5 |25.7 | 27.4
1987 ....|12.6 (0.3)|25.5 (0.7)|16.6 (0.6)| 8.0 (0.4)|3.6 (0.3)|100.0 |52.4  (1.1)|13.6 (0.7)| 34.0 (1.0)|100.0 |25.9 |20.7 |26.0 | 27.5
1988 ....|12.9 (0.3)|27.2 (0.8)|15.4 (0.6)| 8.2 (0.5)|3.4 (0.3)| 52.9 |52.9  (1.2)|  ‡    ‡  |  ‡     ‡  |100.0 |28.9 |19.3 |25.1 | 26.8
1989 ....|12.6 (0.3)|25.0 (0.8)|16.2 (0.7)| 8.7 (0.5)|3.3 (0.3)|100.0 |53.2  (1.2)|13.8 (0.8)| 33.0 (1.1)|100.0 |29.4 |20.8 |24.9 | 25.0
         |          |          |          |          |         |      |           |          |           |      |     |     |     |
1990 ....|12.1 (0.3)|24.3 (0.8)|15.1 (0.6)| 8.7 (0.5)|2.9 (0.3)|100.0 |52.5  (1.2)|13.3 (0.8)| 34.2 (1.1)|100.0 |28.6 |20.9 |24.4 | 26.1
1991 ....|12.5 (0.3)|25.9 (0.8)|15.5 (0.6)| 7.7 (0.5)|3.0 (0.3)|100.0 |47.5  (1.2)|15.8 (0.9)| 36.7 (1.1)|100.0 |28.6 |20.5 |26.1 | 24.9
1992\2\ .|11.0 (0.3)|23.4 (0.7)|12.9 (0.6)| 7.3 (0.4)|2.4 (0.2)|100.0 |47.6  (1.3)|15.0 (0.9)| 37.4 (1.2)|100.0 |21.6 |17.5 |24.4 | 36.5
1993\2\ .|11.0 (0.3)|22.9 (0.7)|12.7 (0.6)| 6.6 (0.4)|2.9 (0.3)|100.0 |48.7  (1.3)|12.8 (0.8)| 38.5 (1.2)|100.0 |20.5 |16.6 |24.1 | 38.8
1994\2\ .|11.4 (0.3)|20.7 (0.7)|13.7 (0.6)| 8.7 (0.5)|4.9 (0.3)|100.0 |49.5  (1.2)|13.0 (0.8)| 37.5 (1.2)|100.0 |23.9 |16.2 |20.3 | 39.6
         |          |          |          |          |         |      |           |          |           |      |     |     |     |
1995\2\ .|12.0 (0.3)|23.2 (0.7)|13.8 (0.6)| 8.3 (0.5)|3.6 (0.3)|100.0 |48.9  (1.2)|14.2 (0.8)| 37.0 (1.2)|100.0 |22.2 |17.0 |22.5 | 38.3
1996\2\ .|11.1 (0.3)|22.0 (0.7)|13.6 (0.6)| 7.0 (0.4)|3.2 (0.3)|100.0 |47.3  (1.3)|15.0 (0.9)| 37.7 (1.2)|100.0 |20.3 |17.7 |22.6 | 39.4
1997\2\ .|11.0 (0.3)|21.8 (0.7)|13.5 (0.6)| 6.2 (0.4)|3.4 (0.3)|100.0 |53.3  (1.3)|13.2 (0.9)| 33.5 (1.2)|100.0 |19.9 |15.7 |22.3 | 42.1
1998\2\ .|11.8 (0.3)|22.3 (0.7)|14.9 (0.6)| 7.7 (0.5)|3.5 (0.3)|100.0 |55.1  (1.2)|10.3 (0.7)| 34.6 (1.2)|100.0 |21.0 |14.9 |21.4 | 42.6
1999\2\ .|11.2 (0.3)|21.0 (0.7)|14.3 (0.6)| 7.4 (0.4)|3.9 (0.3)|100.0 |55.6  (1.2)|10.0 (0.7)| 34.4 (1.2)|100.0 |22.2 |16.3 |22.5 | 39.0
         |          |          |          |          |         |      |           |          |           |      |     |     |     |
2000\2\ .|10.9 (0.3)|20.7 (0.7)|12.8 (0.6)| 8.3 (0.5)|3.5 (0.3)|100.0 |56.9  (1.2)|12.3 (0.8)| 30.8 (1.2)|100.0 |21.5 |15.3 |23.1 | 40.0
2001\2\ .|10.7 (0.3)| ---  --- | ---  --- | ---  --- |---  --- |100.0 |58.2  (1.2)|14.8 (0.9)| 27.0 (1.1)|100.0 |18.4 |16.9 |23.8 | 40.9
_________|__________|__________|__________|__________|_________|______|___________|__________|___________|______|_____|_____|_____|______

‡Did not meet reporting standard.
---Not available.
\1\Includes persons employed, but not currently working.
\2\Data may not be comparable with figures for earlier years because of changes in data collection procedures.

NOTE: "Status" dropouts are 16- to 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in school and who have not completed a high school program, regardless of when they left school. People who have received GED credentials are counted as high school completers. Data are based on sample surveys of the civilian noninstitutionalized population. Standard errors appear in parentheses.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey, unpublished data. (This table was prepared October 2002.)


2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest