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Digest of Education Statistics
2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 433. Employment to population ratios of females 16 to 64 years old, by age group and educational attainment: Selected years, 1975 through 2012
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Age group and educational attainment 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 to 19 years old, all education                                                                                    
levels1  ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) 56.6   (2.72) 52.2   (2.93) 55.1   (2.98) 51.0   (1.88) 50.9   (2.00) 53.5   (1.87) 47.3   (2.14) 47.7   (1.81) 42.3   (1.88) 42.3   (2.14) 43.1   (2.03)
Less than high school completion ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) 36.0   (4.13) 36.5   (4.23) 38.9   (4.42) 30.3   (2.72) 34.3   (2.54) 36.4   (2.63) 25.9   (2.84) 27.3   (2.57) 26.8   (2.75) 23.5   (2.92) 22.6   (2.88)
High school completion2  ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) 70.5   (3.38) 64.1   (4.22) 65.2   (4.22) 67.0   (2.60) 61.4   (2.77) 65.2   (2.70) 61.2   (2.94) 56.7   (2.54) 51.2   (2.99) 49.1   (2.91) 55.2   (2.97)
At least some college ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) 73.1   (11.73) 68.3   (8.37) 79.1   (7.56) 63.6   (6.23) 63.4   (5.29) 72.7   (4.46) 55.9   (5.75) 67.6   (4.82) 54.4   (5.29) 62.5   (5.31) 64.3   (5.68)
                                                                                     
20 to 24 years old, all education                                                                                    
levels1  ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) 68.2   (1.29) 66.3   (1.34) 71.5   (1.35) 67.0   (1.01) 67.8   (0.94) 68.3   (0.85) 67.2   (0.97) 65.8   (0.94) 62.4   (1.01) 64.1   (0.92) 65.0   (0.94)
Less than high school completion ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) 36.7   (3.08) 33.6   (3.18) 46.2   (3.57) 38.5   (2.20) 41.1   (2.23) 44.3   (2.19) 37.5   (2.47) 38.6   (2.32) 33.3   (2.50) 33.2   (2.31) 36.2   (2.84)
High school completion2  ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) 68.8   (1.84) 62.2   (2.19) 70.0   (2.15) 65.0   (1.47) 64.7   (1.39) 63.2   (1.38) 60.8   (1.55) 59.9   (1.53) 55.6   (1.43) 58.5   (1.77) 59.2   (1.55)
Some college, no bachelor's
     degree3 
---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) 80.9   (2.39) 80.3   (2.12) 81.4   (2.23) 76.6   (1.72) 76.3   (1.73) 76.7   (1.49) 78.7   (1.56) 72.4   (1.67) 71.2   (1.65) 71.2   (1.47) 70.6   (1.64)
Bachelor's or higher degree ---   (†) ---   (†) ---   (†) 92.0   (2.12) 90.8   (2.19) 86.9   (2.61) 88.4   (1.53) 88.0   (1.69) 91.0   (1.47) 87.8   (1.55) 87.7   (1.60) 86.7   (1.67) 85.5   (1.81) 86.4   (1.53)
                                                                                     
25 to 64 years old, all education                                                                                    
levels 48.5   (0.46) 56.5   (0.44) 60.8   (0.43) 66.0   (0.42) 68.3   (0.40) 71.2   (0.39) 68.4   (0.23) 69.0   (0.25) 69.6   (0.21) 69.6   (0.23) 67.6   (0.24) 66.9   (0.23) 66.2   (0.24) 66.3   (0.25)
Less than high school completion 37.7   (0.80) 39.8   (0.86) 39.1   (0.97) 41.8   (1.06) 43.2   (1.15) 45.8   (1.24) 43.4   (0.72) 43.8   (0.69) 45.4   (0.69) 43.8   (0.74) 41.9   (0.67) 41.6   (0.81) 39.7   (0.71) 41.6   (0.89)
High school completion2  50.1   (0.70) 58.2   (0.65) 60.8   (0.65) 65.6   (0.64) 65.7   (0.69) 68.6   (0.70) 64.2   (0.44) 65.3   (0.48) 65.8   (0.42) 64.7   (0.43) 63.2   (0.42) 61.9   (0.44) 60.1   (0.51) 60.0   (0.49)
Some college, no bachelor's
     degree3 
53.8   (1.30) 63.7   (1.07) 69.0   (0.98) 73.2   (0.88) 73.8   (0.71) 76.0   (0.70) 72.8   (0.42) 72.5   (0.38) 73.3   (0.38) 73.0   (0.43) 70.4   (0.44) 69.4   (0.45) 69.1   (0.37) 67.9   (0.43)
Bachelor's or higher degree 65.6   (1.29) 71.8   (1.01) 76.7   (0.88) 79.8   (0.78) 80.8   (0.71) 80.8   (0.66) 78.1   (0.40) 78.7   (0.34) 78.3   (0.37) 79.1   (0.40) 77.3   (0.38) 76.9   (0.36) 76.6   (0.39) 77.2   (0.38)
                                                                                     
25 to 34 years old, all education                                                                                    
levels 49.3   (0.83) 61.6   (0.73) 65.9   (0.72) 69.6   (0.70) 70.2   (0.71) 74.1   (0.74) 69.0   (0.48) 69.7   (0.49) 71.1   (0.45) 71.7   (0.47) 69.3   (0.51) 68.0   (0.44) 67.5   (0.42) 67.7   (0.44)
Less than high school completion 33.7   (1.74) 42.3   (1.91) 38.7   (2.05) 42.5   (2.12) 43.5   (2.25) 47.6   (2.56) 42.7   (1.44) 42.0   (1.38) 45.7   (1.31) 42.4   (1.37) 39.5   (1.50) 40.2   (1.35) 37.5   (1.55) 38.9   (1.69)
High school completion2  48.1   (1.22) 59.4   (1.12) 63.9   (1.11) 67.5   (1.11) 67.2   (1.27) 70.7   (1.43) 62.5   (0.99) 65.0   (0.95) 66.4   (0.90) 64.3   (0.92) 63.2   (0.98) 61.4   (1.14) 59.5   (0.94) 59.1   (1.05)
Some college, no bachelor's
      degree3 
53.6   (2.06) 66.3   (1.58) 71.0   (1.46) 74.5   (1.40) 73.0   (1.26) 76.3   (1.31) 73.0   (0.81) 71.9   (0.85) 73.5   (0.78) 74.4   (0.81) 70.8   (0.86) 67.7   (0.80) 69.1   (0.79) 67.7   (0.90)
Bachelor's or higher degree 66.3   (1.88) 75.5   (1.42) 80.6   (1.26) 83.2   (1.18) 83.4   (1.16) 84.7   (1.11) 80.1   (0.72) 81.1   (0.70) 80.7   (0.70) 82.8   (0.66) 80.7   (0.73) 79.9   (0.63) 78.8   (0.60) 80.3   (0.63)
                                                                                     
35 to 44 years old, all education                                                                                    
levels 51.9   (0.95) 62.8   (0.87) 67.7   (0.80) 73.3   (0.72) 73.8   (0.68) 75.1   (0.67) 72.8   (0.38) 72.6   (0.41) 73.3   (0.39) 73.3   (0.40) 70.9   (0.42) 69.9   (0.42) 69.8   (0.48) 70.7   (0.48)
Less than high school completion 42.8   (1.76) 48.2   (1.90) 46.4   (2.13) 51.0   (2.35) 49.7   (2.33) 52.5   (2.35) 51.5   (1.33) 49.1   (1.27) 50.9   (1.48) 53.1   (1.57) 48.9   (1.47) 44.8   (1.54) 42.5   (1.41) 47.0   (1.49)
High school completion2  53.9   (1.38) 64.7   (1.28) 67.8   (1.22) 72.7   (1.13) 71.7   (1.19) 74.7   (1.18) 71.6   (0.74) 70.4   (0.78) 71.4   (0.76) 69.6   (0.78) 66.9   (0.94) 66.3   (0.87) 65.8   (0.87) 64.9   (1.02)
Some college, no bachelor's
      degree3 
55.1   (2.67) 67.8   (2.14) 73.6   (1.73) 77.9   (1.44) 78.5   (1.16) 79.4   (1.16) 76.1   (0.67) 75.5   (0.74) 78.1   (0.69) 76.9   (0.81) 74.0   (0.79) 72.2   (0.74) 71.8   (0.87) 73.4   (0.85)
Bachelor's or higher degree 63.2   (2.73) 73.0   (1.97) 78.5   (1.53) 81.2   (1.30) 81.5   (1.19) 80.2   (1.20) 78.1   (0.66) 79.4   (0.63) 77.6   (0.69) 78.9   (0.63) 78.1   (0.61) 78.3   (0.59) 78.9   (0.68) 78.8   (0.64)
                                                                                     
45 to 54 years old, all education                                                                                    
levels 51.5   (0.93) 57.1   (0.94) 62.1   (0.98) 68.6   (0.92) 72.9   (0.80) 76.0   (0.73) 73.2   (0.40) 73.9   (0.42) 74.1   (0.44) 73.2   (0.46) 71.8   (0.46) 71.3   (0.44) 70.0   (0.44) 69.6   (0.42)
Less than high school completion 41.5   (1.55) 43.9   (1.71) 44.3   (2.06) 47.6   (2.22) 50.6   (2.43) 52.3   (2.57) 47.8   (1.40) 48.4   (1.31) 48.3   (1.46) 44.6   (1.30) 45.5   (1.47) 45.2   (1.61) 44.1   (1.25) 45.8   (1.53)
High school completion2  53.8   (1.37) 60.2   (1.37) 64.2   (1.41) 69.9   (1.35) 71.1   (1.36) 72.9   (1.33) 69.5   (0.83) 71.2   (0.88) 71.9   (0.82) 70.1   (0.80) 68.8   (0.85) 67.1   (0.72) 64.4   (0.89) 65.5   (0.82)
Some college, no bachelor's
      degree3 
58.1   (2.78) 64.7   (2.56) 69.7   (2.45) 75.2   (2.08) 76.9   (1.46) 80.6   (1.28) 76.9   (0.72) 77.3   (0.74) 76.9   (0.77) 75.9   (0.74) 75.0   (0.73) 75.5   (0.74) 74.4   (0.71) 71.4   (0.77)
Bachelor's or higher degree 72.2   (2.87) 72.3   (2.55) 77.3   (2.24) 81.8   (1.76) 83.8   (1.36) 84.5   (1.17) 82.8   (0.72) 83.0   (0.68) 82.8   (0.64) 83.0   (0.73) 80.5   (0.69) 79.7   (0.69) 79.6   (0.68) 79.6   (0.72)
                                                                                     
55 to 64 years old, all education                                                                                    
levels 39.7   (0.99) 40.5   (0.94) 41.1   (0.99) 44.0   (1.05) 47.5   (1.08) 51.9   (1.06) 54.8   (0.61) 56.7   (0.60) 57.2   (0.58) 58.1   (0.55) 56.7   (0.55) 57.1   (0.53) 56.4   (0.51) 56.5   (0.57)
Less than high school completion 33.5   (1.39) 29.4   (1.41) 31.2   (1.60) 30.5   (1.80) 30.3   (2.07) 30.9   (2.26) 30.5   (1.33) 34.6   (1.48) 36.0   (1.47) 34.1   (1.70) 32.1   (1.47) 35.1   (1.54) 33.6   (1.46) 34.0   (1.57)
High school completion2  42.6   (1.65) 45.8   (1.48) 42.8   (1.48) 45.7   (1.60) 47.5   (1.66) 51.3   (1.69) 50.5   (0.95) 52.3   (0.94) 51.8   (1.02) 53.8   (0.90) 52.9   (0.97) 52.2   (0.92) 51.1   (0.95) 50.6   (0.97)
Some college, no bachelor's
      degree3 
45.9   (3.37) 48.2   (2.87) 51.1   (2.95) 54.1   (2.81) 57.0   (2.32) 58.8   (2.17) 60.9   (1.06) 62.4   (1.08) 61.9   (1.11) 62.0   (1.04) 59.1   (1.02) 59.9   (1.08) 59.6   (1.08) 58.7   (1.01)
Bachelor's or higher degree 57.8   (3.72) 54.0   (3.27) 55.1   (3.18) 58.6   (2.98) 61.9   (2.81) 65.1   (2.28) 67.5   (1.22) 67.2   (1.14) 69.1   (1.01) 68.7   (1.04) 67.5   (0.96) 67.5   (0.98) 67.0   (1.04) 68.3   (1.03)
---Not available.
†Not applicable.
1 Data for 16- to 19-year-olds and 20- to 24-year-olds exclude persons enrolled in school.
2 Includes equivalency credentials, such as the General Educational Development (GED) credential.
3 Includes persons with no college degree as well as those with an associate's degree.
NOTE: The employment to population ratio is the number of persons employed as a percentage of the civilian population.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics, unpublished annual average data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), selected years, 1975 through 2012. (This table was prepared October 2012.)

2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest