Chapter 5: Outcomes of Education

This chapter contains tables comparing educational attainment and workforce characteristics. The data show labor force participation and income levels of high school dropouts and high school and college graduates. Population characteristics are provided for many of the measures to help provide comparisons among various demographic groups. Tables 368 to 370 contain data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on labor force participation, employment, unemployment, and type of occupation by highest level of educational attainment, sex, age, and race/ethnicity. Tables 371 and 372 provide income comparisons by education level and sex.

Tables 375 and 376, compiled from U.S. Census Bureau data on high school completers and dropouts, show the labor force participation and college enrollment of high school students within the year after they leave school. The tabulations also provide comparative labor force participation and unemployment rates for high school completers and dropouts. Additional information on college enrollment rates by race/ethnicity and sex has been included to help form a more complete picture of high school outcomes. Tables 378 to 381 were prepared from the Recent College Graduates and Baccalaureate and Beyond surveys by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). These tables provide data on employment outcomes and salaries for college graduates 1 year after graduation. The last tables in this chapter deal with drug use and life values of high school seniors and young adults.

Statistics related to outcomes of education appear in other sections of the Digest. For example, statistics on educational attainment of the entire population are in chapter 1. More detailed data on the numbers of high school and college graduates are contained in chapters 2 and 3. Chapter 3 contains trend data on the percentage of high school completers going to college. Additional data on the income of people by educational attainment may be obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau in the Current Population Reports, Series P 60. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has a series of publications dealing with the educational characteristics of the labor force. Further information on survey methodologies is in Appendix A: Guide to Sources and in the publications cited in the table source notes.

Labor Force

Adults with higher levels of education generally had higher labor force participation rates than adults with less education (table 368 and figure 21). (People participating in the labor force are those employed or actively seeking employment.) Among people 25 to 64 years old, 86 percent of those with a bachelor's or higher degree participated in the labor force in 2006, compared with 76 percent of those who had completed only high school. In comparison, 64 percent of those ages 25 to 64 who had not completed high school were in the labor force. The 2006 labor force participation rate for those ages 25 to 64 who had completed only high school was higher for Whites (77 percent) and Hispanics (79 percent) than for Blacks (74 percent); the Hispanic rate was not measurably different from the White rate (table 368). Among people ages 25 to 64 with a bachelor's or higher degree, Blacks and Hispanics had labor force participation rates (88 and 86 percent, respectively) that were about the same as the rate for Whites (86 percent).

Unemployment rates were generally higher for persons with lower levels of educational attainment than for those with higher levels of educational attainment (table 369). The 2006 unemployment rate for adults (25 years old and over) who had not completed high school was 6.8 percent, compared with 4.3 percent for those who had completed high school and 2.0 percent for those with a bachelor's or higher degree (figure 22). Younger people tended to have higher unemployment rates than did people 25 years old and over (table 369).

The relative difficulties dropouts have in entering the job market are highlighted by comparing their labor force participation and unemployment rates to those of other youth. Of the 2006 high school completers who were not in college in October 2006, 76 percent were in the labor force (employed or looking for work), and 25 percent of those in the labor force were looking for work (table 375). In comparison, 53 percent of 2005-06 dropouts were in the labor force in October 2006, and 24 percent of those in the labor force were looking for work (table 376).

One year after graduating from college in 1999-2000, 87 percent of individuals receiving bachelor's degrees were employed (77 percent full time and 11 percent part time), 6 percent were unemployed, and 6 percent were not in the labor force (table 379).

Income

The median annual income of male full-time year-round workers, when adjusted for inflation, increased between 1995 and 1999, but had a net decrease between 1999 and 2006 (table 371). Income for female full-time year-round workers rose between 1995 and 2001, and had no consistent trend between 2001 and 2006, for a net increase of 7 percent for the entire period. Women's incomes remained lower than men's incomes overall, as well as by education level. For example, the average 2006 income for full-time year-round workers with a bachelor's degree was $60,910 for men and $45,410 for women. Among people 25 years old and over who had earnings in 2006, median annual earnings were lower for women than for men (table 372 and figure 24).

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