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Digest of Education Statistics
2015 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 501.50. Employment to population ratios of persons 16 to 64 years old, by age group and highest level of educational attainment: Selected years, 1975 through 2015
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Age group and highest level of educational attainment 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
16 to 19 years old, all education
      levels1 
  (†)   (†)   (†) 60.8   (2.03) 58.0   (2.13) 62.6   (2.09) 53.7   (1.40) 53.5   (1.41) 46.6   (1.36) 43.2   (1.30) 44.8   (1.40) 45.8   (1.43) 46.3   (1.40) 51.0   (1.67) 49.2   (1.36)
Less than high school completion   (†)   (†)   (†) 44.2   (3.08) 44.0   (3.13) 52.2   (3.19) 39.4   (2.01) 37.5   (1.90) 31.1   (1.89) 29.4   (1.83) 31.1   (2.21) 28.5   (2.05) 32.6   (2.03) 39.7   (2.63) 35.3   (2.03)
High school completion2   (†)   (†)   (†) 74.2   (2.54) 70.1   (2.99) 70.1   (2.92) 65.0   (2.04) 64.3   (1.96) 53.6   (1.72) 51.1   (1.84) 50.3   (2.01) 53.6   (1.90) 52.7   (2.15) 58.5   (2.22) 56.1   (1.83)
At least some college   (†)   (†)   (†) 76.8   (9.32) 71.6   (6.38) 78.2   (6.22) 66.6   (4.54) 65.3   (3.89) 65.4   (3.70) 57.5   (3.99) 61.5   (3.63) 64.3   (4.07) 63.5   (3.96) 60.5   (5.27) 65.7   (3.40)
                                                                                           
20 to 24 years old, all education
      levels1 
  (†)   (†)   (†) 75.6   (0.90) 73.7   (0.93) 77.4   (0.93) 73.2   (0.66) 73.4   (0.60) 68.3   (0.66) 65.5   (0.72) 67.0   (0.59) 68.7   (0.67) 68.5   (0.72) 69.4   (0.74) 71.4   (0.66)
Less than high school completion   (†)   (†)   (†) 54.4   (2.29) 52.7   (2.41) 60.8   (2.43) 55.7   (1.27) 55.1   (1.73) 50.6   (1.60) 44.4   (1.58) 46.8   (1.71) 47.7   (1.95) 46.8   (1.88) 46.6   (2.62) 51.4   (2.17)
High school completion2   (†)   (†)   (†) 76.6   (1.26) 72.2   (1.46) 76.5   (1.46) 72.3   (0.91) 69.8   (0.97) 63.9   (1.03) 61.5   (1.01) 62.9   (1.07) 64.2   (0.99) 63.5   (1.16) 63.7   (1.31) 66.9   (1.01)
Some college, no bachelor's
      degree3 
  (†)   (†)   (†) 85.6   (1.69) 83.6   (1.52) 86.6   (1.49) 80.3   (1.19) 81.8   (1.09) 74.9   (1.32) 72.9   (1.27) 73.2   (1.01) 75.3   (1.19) 75.3   (1.15) 75.0   (1.29) 76.4   (1.03)
Bachelor's or higher degree   (†)   (†)   (†) 93.3   (1.57) 90.9   (1.76) 87.8   (2.07) 89.3   (1.16) 89.6   (1.21) 87.2   (1.26) 86.5   (1.37) 85.2   (1.41) 87.3   (1.16) 86.6   (1.46) 88.1   (1.47) 88.9   (1.05)
                                                                                           
25 to 64 years old, all education
      levels
65.8   (0.33) 70.2   (0.30) 71.6   (0.30) 75.0   (0.29) 75.5   (0.28) 77.7   (0.27) 75.0   (0.19) 75.5   (0.16) 72.2   (0.19) 71.5   (0.19) 71.2   (0.19) 71.7   (0.18) 72.1   (0.19) 72.3   (0.26) 73.1   (0.19)
Less than high school completion 55.3   (0.62) 55.5   (0.66) 53.1   (0.74) 54.9   (0.80) 53.8   (0.85) 57.8   (0.91) 57.2   (0.51) 56.2   (0.51) 52.5   (0.57) 52.1   (0.60) 51.1   (0.56) 52.9   (0.60) 53.2   (0.60) 54.9   (0.78) 54.7   (0.58)
High school completion2 65.7   (0.53) 70.4   (0.48) 70.7   (0.48) 74.4   (0.46) 73.3   (0.49) 75.5   (0.49) 71.5   (0.34) 71.6   (0.28) 67.8   (0.33) 67.0   (0.36) 66.2   (0.39) 66.5   (0.35) 66.7   (0.38) 67.0   (0.44) 67.3   (0.37)
Some college, no bachelor's
      degree3 
71.7   (0.86) 76.1   (0.70) 77.8   (0.66) 80.2   (0.60) 79.5   (0.51) 80.7   (0.50) 77.7   (0.33) 77.5   (0.31) 73.9   (0.33) 72.7   (0.30) 72.2   (0.30) 72.2   (0.30) 73.1   (0.31) 72.6   (0.44) 74.1   (0.32)
Bachelor's or higher degree 82.5   (0.68) 84.5   (0.55) 85.6   (0.51) 86.7   (0.47) 86.5   (0.44) 86.4   (0.42) 83.7   (0.26) 84.4   (0.27) 82.2   (0.25) 81.6   (0.24) 81.5   (0.26) 82.1   (0.24) 81.9   (0.26) 82.0   (0.34) 82.8   (0.26)
                                                                                           
25 to 34 years old, all education
      levels
67.7   (0.59) 74.5   (0.49) 76.2   (0.48) 78.6   (0.47) 78.5   (0.48) 81.6   (0.49) 76.8   (0.31) 78.1   (0.31) 74.2   (0.36) 73.2   (0.34) 73.0   (0.35) 73.8   (0.31) 74.6   (0.33) 74.5   (0.43) 76.0   (0.35)
Less than high school completion 52.9   (1.43) 58.3   (1.46) 57.0   (1.54) 60.3   (1.50) 59.8   (1.59) 64.1   (1.76) 62.0   (0.95) 60.4   (0.93) 54.6   (1.07) 55.1   (0.95) 54.2   (1.17) 56.2   (1.14) 57.4   (1.03) 57.8   (1.37) 56.5   (1.11)
High school completion2 65.5   (0.92) 72.0   (0.81) 74.3   (0.78) 77.7   (0.74) 77.0   (0.84) 80.2   (0.91) 73.1   (0.60) 74.0   (0.60) 69.0   (0.66) 68.1   (0.72) 67.9   (0.67) 68.7   (0.75) 68.2   (0.68) 68.2   (0.73) 70.4   (0.72)
Some college, no bachelor's
       degree3 
71.7   (1.33) 77.8   (1.01) 80.1   (0.97) 81.6   (0.96) 80.5   (0.87) 82.8   (0.90) 79.4   (0.54) 79.9   (0.52) 75.9   (0.60) 72.9   (0.57) 73.0   (0.62) 72.7   (0.68) 74.9   (0.65) 74.5   (0.74) 76.4   (0.60)
Bachelor's or higher degree 82.0   (1.04) 85.4   (0.82) 86.6   (0.79) 88.1   (0.76) 88.1   (0.75) 89.0   (0.73) 84.4   (0.52) 86.8   (0.46) 84.5   (0.49) 84.0   (0.49) 83.4   (0.45) 84.3   (0.45) 84.4   (0.45) 84.0   (0.59) 84.8   (0.48)
                                                                                           
35 to 44 years old, all education
      levels
70.3   (0.66) 76.5   (0.58) 78.1   (0.54) 81.6   (0.48) 80.2   (0.46) 81.8   (0.45) 79.9   (0.26) 80.1   (0.30) 76.7   (0.29) 76.0   (0.30) 76.0   (0.35) 76.9   (0.35) 77.0   (0.35) 77.1   (0.40) 78.3   (0.31)
Less than high school completion 61.4   (1.31) 63.4   (1.39) 60.0   (1.58) 62.5   (1.69) 58.6   (1.66) 64.8   (1.64) 64.9   (0.93) 64.3   (1.05) 60.2   (1.01) 58.2   (1.13) 57.5   (1.04) 59.6   (1.13) 61.6   (1.03) 61.3   (1.25) 62.3   (0.84)
High school completion2 69.6   (1.02) 76.6   (0.90) 76.6   (0.88) 80.0   (0.80) 78.6   (0.82) 81.0   (0.79) 78.0   (0.52) 76.9   (0.57) 72.6   (0.63) 72.4   (0.64) 71.8   (0.64) 72.1   (0.68) 72.6   (0.66) 72.6   (0.80) 72.5   (0.63)
Some college, no bachelor's
       degree3 
74.5   (1.74) 80.9   (1.33) 81.6   (1.15) 85.0   (0.93) 83.3   (0.81) 84.4   (0.80) 82.0   (0.48) 82.4   (0.58) 78.5   (0.53) 76.9   (0.53) 76.9   (0.62) 78.2   (0.61) 77.0   (0.64) 77.3   (0.68) 79.6   (0.53)
Bachelor's or higher degree 84.5   (1.31) 87.1   (1.00) 88.8   (0.80) 89.5   (0.72) 88.5   (0.71) 87.6   (0.74) 85.9   (0.41) 86.4   (0.40) 84.8   (0.42) 84.7   (0.39) 84.8   (0.43) 85.0   (0.41) 84.8   (0.43) 85.0   (0.57) 86.7   (0.39)
                                                                                           
45 to 54 years old, all education
      levels
68.4   (0.65) 71.7   (0.65) 73.5   (0.67) 77.6   (0.62) 78.8   (0.55) 81.2   (0.50) 78.4   (0.32) 78.4   (0.33) 75.2   (0.34) 74.7   (0.35) 74.3   (0.32) 74.6   (0.30) 74.9   (0.30) 76.2   (0.43) 75.9   (0.33)
Less than high school completion 59.8   (1.14) 61.8   (1.24) 58.7   (1.52) 60.7   (1.63) 58.4   (1.79) 60.3   (1.89) 59.0   (1.04) 56.0   (1.02) 54.0   (1.13) 52.5   (1.05) 51.7   (0.84) 54.7   (1.06) 53.3   (1.04) 59.4   (1.50) 56.8   (1.16)
High school completion2 68.8   (1.03) 72.0   (1.02) 74.0   (1.03) 77.5   (0.97) 75.9   (1.01) 78.2   (0.95) 75.1   (0.64) 75.4   (0.57) 71.6   (0.53) 71.0   (0.65) 70.1   (0.58) 70.4   (0.62) 70.1   (0.60) 70.7   (0.84) 70.9   (0.63)
Some college, no bachelor's
       degree3 
74.7   (1.81) 76.5   (1.72) 79.2   (1.63) 81.9   (1.38) 81.7   (1.03) 83.4   (0.91) 80.4   (0.57) 80.2   (0.51) 77.3   (0.58) 77.3   (0.54) 76.6   (0.53) 76.2   (0.53) 77.4   (0.53) 77.4   (0.76) 77.1   (0.60)
Bachelor's or higher degree 87.1   (1.36) 87.3   (1.21) 87.9   (1.16) 89.4   (0.97) 89.5   (0.78) 89.7   (0.71) 87.5   (0.45) 88.1   (0.45) 85.2   (0.45) 84.4   (0.45) 84.9   (0.45) 84.7   (0.48) 84.7   (0.47) 85.9   (0.54) 85.7   (0.43)
                                                                                           
55 to 64 years old, all education
      levels
54.6   (0.77) 54.1   (0.73) 52.1   (0.77) 53.4   (0.81) 55.0   (0.82) 58.1   (0.79) 60.8   (0.48) 62.8   (0.41) 60.8   (0.42) 60.6   (0.41) 60.2   (0.43) 60.6   (0.41) 61.3   (0.43) 60.9   (0.52) 61.9   (0.37)
Less than high school completion 48.5   (1.11) 43.2   (1.16) 41.8   (1.29) 39.5   (1.46) 38.1   (1.67) 40.4   (1.84) 39.4   (1.13) 41.0   (1.24) 38.2   (1.19) 40.0   (1.19) 39.4   (1.15) 39.1   (1.08) 38.5   (1.32) 39.6   (1.34) 42.4   (1.12)
High school completion2 56.5   (1.32) 57.5   (1.19) 52.1   (1.22) 54.0   (1.29) 53.7   (1.34) 55.4   (1.34) 55.3   (0.79) 57.8   (0.69) 55.8   (0.73) 55.1   (0.71) 54.4   (0.81) 54.6   (0.75) 56.3   (0.74) 57.6   (0.90) 56.9   (0.74)
Some college, no bachelor's
       degree3 
62.6   (2.48) 62.5   (2.08) 58.9   (2.21) 60.4   (2.12) 62.0   (1.74) 62.4   (1.64) 64.8   (0.90) 64.8   (0.80) 61.6   (0.74) 61.8   (0.76) 61.2   (0.78) 61.2   (0.70) 62.3   (0.72) 60.5   (0.99) 63.2   (0.68)
Bachelor's or higher degree 72.6   (2.34) 71.9   (1.96) 71.3   (1.83) 70.5   (1.79) 70.0   (1.72) 71.9   (1.49) 73.5   (0.74) 74.0   (0.68) 72.7   (0.63) 72.0   (0.65) 71.8   (0.71) 73.1   (0.66) 72.4   (0.67) 71.7   (0.90) 72.3   (0.62)
—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 GED credential.
3 Includes persons with no college degree as well as those with an associate's degree.
NOTE: For each age group, the employment to population ratio is the number of persons in that age group who are employed as a percentage of the civilian population in that age group.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), Annual Social and Economic Supplement, selected years, 1975 through 2015. (This table was prepared October 2015.)

2015 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest