Skip Navigation
Digest of Education Statistics
2014 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 503.20. Percentage of college students 16 to 24 years old who were employed, by attendance status, hours worked per week, and control and level of institution: Selected years, October 1970 through 2013
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Control and level of institution and year Full-time students Part-time students
Percent employed2 Hours worked per week1 Percent employed2 Hours worked per week1
Less than 20 hours 20 to 34 hours 35 or more hours Less than 20 hours 20 to 34 hours 35 or more hours
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Total, all institutions                                                
1970 33.8   (0.88) 19.0   (0.73) 10.4   (0.57) 3.7   (0.35) 82.1   (1.81) 5.0   (1.03) 15.9   (1.72) 60.1   (2.31)
1975 35.3   (0.83) 18.0   (0.67) 12.0   (0.56) 4.6   (0.36) 80.8   (1.55) 6.0   (0.94) 19.4   (1.56) 52.6   (1.97)
1980 40.0   (0.84) 21.3   (0.70) 14.0   (0.59) 3.9   (0.33) 84.7   (1.38) 7.9   (1.04) 22.5   (1.60) 52.7   (1.91)
1985 44.2   (0.88) 21.7   (0.73) 17.3   (0.67) 4.3   (0.36) 85.9   (1.41) 5.7   (0.94) 26.9   (1.80) 52.2   (2.03)
1990 45.7   (0.89) 20.6   (0.73) 19.3   (0.71) 4.8   (0.38) 83.7   (1.50) 4.0   (0.80) 26.0   (1.78) 52.7   (2.03)
                                                 
1991 47.2   (0.88) 20.9   (0.72) 19.8   (0.70) 5.6   (0.41) 85.9   (1.45) 8.2   (1.15) 25.4   (1.82) 51.0   (2.09)
1992 47.2   (0.87) 20.3   (0.70) 20.3   (0.70) 5.5   (0.40) 83.4   (1.50) 7.5   (1.06) 27.2   (1.79) 47.8   (2.01)
1993 46.3   (0.89) 20.8   (0.72) 19.5   (0.71) 5.1   (0.39) 84.6   (1.43) 8.5   (1.10) 31.4   (1.84) 43.7   (1.96)
1994 48.6   (0.87) 20.1   (0.70) 21.7   (0.72) 5.8   (0.41) 86.3   (1.28) 9.8   (1.10) 31.1   (1.72) 43.8   (1.84)
1995 47.2   (0.87) 19.1   (0.69) 20.3   (0.70) 6.5   (0.43) 82.9   (1.45) 8.6   (1.08) 30.4   (1.77) 42.3   (1.90)
                                                 
1996 49.2   (0.88) 18.2   (0.68) 22.3   (0.74) 7.0   (0.45) 84.8   (1.47) 8.3   (1.13) 27.5   (1.83) 48.0   (2.05)
1997 47.8   (0.86) 18.3   (0.67) 21.4   (0.71) 7.4   (0.45) 84.4   (1.46) 9.4   (1.17) 26.2   (1.77) 47.7   (2.01)
1998 50.2   (0.86) 20.2   (0.69) 20.6   (0.70) 8.0   (0.47) 84.1   (1.45) 7.0   (1.01) 26.8   (1.76) 49.3   (1.98)
1999 50.4   (0.86) 19.0   (0.68) 22.3   (0.72) 7.8   (0.46) 82.3   (1.55) 6.2   (0.98) 28.8   (1.85) 45.9   (2.03)
2000 52.0   (0.86) 20.1   (0.69) 21.7   (0.71) 8.9   (0.49) 84.9   (1.38) 8.6   (1.08) 27.8   (1.73) 47.5   (1.93)
                                                 
2001 47.1   (0.80) 17.4   (0.61) 20.6   (0.65) 7.9   (0.43) 84.4   (1.29) 8.0   (0.97) 25.8   (1.56) 48.9   (1.78)
2002 47.8   (0.78) 17.3   (0.59) 20.9   (0.64) 8.5   (0.44) 78.9   (1.51) 8.7   (1.04) 25.3   (1.61) 43.4   (1.84)
2003 47.7   (0.78) 17.1   (0.59) 20.7   (0.63) 8.8   (0.44) 79.0   (1.44) 7.8   (0.95) 27.2   (1.58) 42.8   (1.75)
2004 49.0   (0.76) 17.7   (0.58) 21.6   (0.62) 8.6   (0.43) 81.5   (1.44) 8.5   (1.04) 27.4   (1.66) 44.1   (1.84)
2005 49.1   (0.75) 17.8   (0.58) 21.1   (0.61) 9.0   (0.43) 85.0   (1.30) 10.2   (1.10) 27.1   (1.62) 47.1   (1.82)
                                                 
2006 46.5   (0.76) 15.1   (0.55) 22.0   (0.63) 8.1   (0.42) 81.0   (1.41) 7.3   (0.94) 27.6   (1.61) 45.5   (1.80)
2007 45.5   (0.74) 15.4   (0.54) 20.7   (0.60) 8.7   (0.42) 81.2   (1.39) 6.8   (0.90) 27.2   (1.59) 45.9   (1.78)
2008 45.3   (0.72) 15.6   (0.53) 20.1   (0.58) 8.7   (0.41) 79.4   (1.51) 9.3   (1.09) 24.7   (1.61) 44.4   (1.86)
2009 40.6   (0.69) 15.6   (0.51) 17.6   (0.54) 6.2   (0.34) 76.2   (1.57) 10.1   (1.11) 27.5   (1.65) 36.9   (1.78)
20103 39.8   (1.01) 14.9   (0.57) 17.2   (0.77) 6.6   (0.46) 73.4   (2.03) 10.7   (1.24) 28.3   (1.92) 32.8   (2.19)
                                                 
20113 41.3   (0.94) 15.8   (0.67) 17.4   (0.66) 7.0   (0.44) 75.5   (1.93) 9.7   (1.21) 28.4   (1.99) 35.5   (2.16)
20123 41.0   (0.83) 15.1   (0.72) 17.8   (0.71) 7.2   (0.44) 71.7   (2.07) 9.0   (1.27) 29.5   (2.09) 32.1   (2.07)
20133 39.5   (1.00) 14.0   (0.67) 18.5   (0.77) 6.6   (0.50) 75.7   (2.06) 10.5   (1.44) 28.7   (1.76) 35.4   (2.11)
                                                 
Public 4-year institutions                                                
1990 43.0   (1.18) 19.8   (0.95) 18.6   (0.93) 3.7   (0.45) 87.4   (2.25) 4.2 ! (1.37) 27.9   (3.05) 54.7   (3.39)
1995 48.8   (1.16) 19.4   (0.92) 22.6   (0.97) 5.6   (0.53) 86.7   (2.08) 9.6   (1.80) 30.8   (2.83) 45.0   (3.05)
2000 50.5   (1.15) 19.1   (0.90) 21.5   (0.94) 9.0   (0.66) 87.3   (1.91) 8.5   (1.60) 26.4   (2.53) 50.9   (2.87)
2005 49.6   (0.99) 17.8   (0.76) 22.7   (0.83) 8.0   (0.54) 86.3   (1.90) 9.0   (1.58) 26.8   (2.45) 49.7   (2.76)
                                                 
2008 44.1   (0.96) 15.1   (0.70) 19.2   (0.76) 8.8   (0.55) 83.9   (2.25) 9.3   (1.78) 24.7   (2.64) 49.5   (3.06)
2009 40.6   (0.91) 14.7   (0.66) 18.7   (0.73) 5.8   (0.44) 78.7   (2.45) 11.1   (1.88) 25.7   (2.61) 39.8   (2.92)
20103 40.8   (1.27) 15.2   (0.88) 18.0   (0.93) 6.6   (0.64) 70.4   (3.58) 10.5   (2.04) 26.9   (2.82) 32.1   (3.59)
20113 41.0   (1.20) 15.0   (0.91) 17.6   (0.85) 7.4   (0.63) 77.5   (3.27) 7.8   (1.65) 28.4   (3.18) 39.7   (3.29)
20123 41.0   (1.13) 14.9   (0.95) 18.6   (0.99) 6.7   (0.57) 77.6   (3.20) 9.9   (2.41) 28.0   (3.44) 38.8   (3.36)
20133 40.1   (1.31) 13.9   (0.88) 19.2   (0.98) 6.6   (0.63) 78.8   (2.88) 9.8   (1.94) 26.6   (2.80) 41.1   (3.84)
                                                 
Private 4-year institutions                                                
1990 38.1   (1.89) 24.0   (1.66) 9.9   (1.17) 3.5   (0.72) 89.9   (4.27)   (†) 31.9   (6.62) 53.1   (7.09)
1995 38.6   (1.78) 21.6   (1.51) 10.7   (1.13) 4.6   (0.77) 80.1   (4.85) 14.9   (4.32) 26.8   (5.38) 36.5   (5.84)
2000 45.8   (1.88) 23.6   (1.60) 14.9   (1.34) 5.4   (0.85) 78.0   (5.36)   (†) 18.5   (5.02) 52.6   (6.46)
2005 42.3   (1.64) 20.1   (1.33) 13.8   (1.15) 7.0   (0.85) 88.5   (3.32) 10.6 ! (3.20) 34.5   (4.94) 43.2   (5.15)
                                                 
2008 38.0   (1.68) 18.5   (1.35) 12.4   (1.14) 5.6   (0.80) 84.4   (4.44)   (†) 21.4   (5.01) 55.3   (6.08)
2009 35.2   (1.64) 18.6   (1.33) 10.7   (1.06) 5.1   (0.76) 93.9   (2.89) 7.5 ! (3.17) 22.1   (5.00) 62.4   (5.84)
20103 35.6   (2.37) 15.7   (1.63) 12.2   (1.52) 6.0   (1.08) 78.6   (7.00)   (†) 23.4 ! (7.49) 45.6   (9.01)
20113 36.3   (2.07) 20.0   (1.61) 10.1   (1.34) 4.5   (0.82) 79.4   (6.01)   (†) 34.2   (7.03) 38.2   (7.67)
20123 40.4   (2.39) 19.9   (1.80) 12.2   (1.40) 6.7   (1.13) 84.4   (5.35) 9.5 ! (4.53) 33.9   (6.58) 36.9   (7.38)
20133 34.0   (2.27) 14.9   (1.55) 12.8   (1.33) 5.6   (1.13) 86.9   (4.71) 21.9   (6.40) 29.8   (7.01) 35.2   (6.56)
                                                 
Public 2-year institutions                                                
1990 61.2   (1.94) 19.1   (1.57) 31.2   (1.85) 9.2   (1.15) 81.5   (2.17) 4.1   (1.12) 24.9   (2.42) 51.1   (2.80)
1995 52.9   (1.97) 15.6   (1.43) 25.3   (1.72) 10.9   (1.23) 81.1   (2.21) 6.1   (1.35) 32.5   (2.64) 40.5   (2.77)
2000 63.9   (1.79) 20.6   (1.51) 29.9   (1.71) 11.9   (1.21) 85.5   (2.09) 9.9   (1.77) 30.0   (2.72) 44.9   (2.95)
2005 54.2   (1.69) 15.6   (1.23) 24.2   (1.46) 13.4   (1.16) 82.0   (2.20) 10.8   (1.77) 25.8   (2.50) 44.8   (2.84)
                                                 
2008 52.9   (1.43) 14.6   (1.01) 26.9   (1.27) 10.7   (0.89) 74.8   (2.29) 9.7   (1.56) 25.9   (2.31) 37.8   (2.56)
2009 45.4   (1.45) 16.0   (1.07) 20.5   (1.18) 7.8   (0.78) 71.8   (2.36) 10.3   (1.60) 30.6   (2.42) 29.4   (2.39)
20103 40.6   (1.90) 14.0   (1.20) 19.1   (1.50) 6.8   (0.78) 74.7   (2.51) 11.6   (1.93) 30.1   (2.86) 31.0   (3.08)
20113 45.6   (2.00) 14.7   (1.45) 22.1   (1.47) 8.1   (1.01) 73.6   (2.58) 11.3   (1.73) 27.5   (3.12) 32.4   (3.21)
20123 41.2   (1.76) 12.0   (1.17) 19.8   (1.44) 8.4   (0.95) 66.1   (2.98) 8.3   (1.60) 30.0   (2.70) 26.9   (2.79)
20133 41.8   (1.89) 13.8   (1.37) 20.5   (1.55) 7.1   (1.05) 71.1   (3.02) 8.8   (1.92) 29.8   (2.85) 31.2   (3.09)
†Not applicable.
!Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.
‡Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases for a reliable estimate or the coefficient of variation (CV) is 50 percent or greater.
1 Excludes those who were employed but not at work during the survey week; therefore, detail may not sum to total percentage employed. "Hours worked per week" refers to the number of hours worked at all jobs during the survey week.
2 Includes those who were employed but not at work during the survey week.
3 Beginning in 2010, standard errors were computed using replicate weights, which produced more precise values than the generalized variance function methodology used in prior years.
NOTE: Students were classified as full time if they were taking at least 12 hours of classes (or at least 9 hours of graduate classes) during an average school week and as part time if they were taking fewer hours.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October, selected years, 1970 through 2013. (This table was prepared August 2014.)

2014 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest