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Digest of Education Statistics
2019 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 507.30. Participation of employed persons, 17 years old and over, in career-related adult education during the previous 12 months, by selected characteristics of participants: 1995, 1999, and 2005
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Characteristic of employed persons 1995 1999 2005
Percent of adults participating in career- or job-related courses Number of career- or job-related courses taken, per employed adult Percent of adults participating in career- or job-related courses Number of career- or job-related courses taken, per employed adult Employed persons, in thousands Percent of adults participating Number of career- or job-related courses taken1
In career- or job-related courses1 In apprentice-ship programs In
personal-interest courses
In informal learning activities for personal interest
In thousands Per employed adult
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Total 31.1   (0.54) 0.8   (0.02) 30.5   (1.14) 0.7   (0.03) 133,386 (1,508.1) 38.8   (0.83) 1.4   (0.24) 21.8   (0.94) 73.5 (1.01) 108,443 0.8   (0.03)
Sex                                                          
Male 29.0   (0.72) 0.7   (0.02) 28.3   (1.15) 0.6   (0.03) 71,754 (934.7) 31.7   (1.22) 2.0   (0.37) 18.5   (1.30) 73.4 (1.52) 44,512 0.6   (0.03)
Female 33.4   (0.83) 0.9   (0.03) 32.9   (1.14) 0.8   (0.03) 61,632 (1,219.3) 47.1   (1.43) 0.8   (0.23) 25.8   (1.23) 73.6 (1.37) 63,931 1.0   (0.05)
                                                           
Age                                                          
17 through 24 years old 18.6   (1.01) 0.4   (0.02) 19.1   (1.91) 0.4   (0.06) 15,027 (1,030.4) 26.4   (3.01) 3.0 ! (1.03) 25.2   (3.37) 71.4 (3.15) 8,024 0.5   (0.09)
25 through 29 years old 31.2   (1.46) 0.8   (0.05) 34.3   (2.44) 0.8   (0.08) 14,555 (918.4) 36.1   (2.94) 3.1 ! (1.12) 24.5   (3.66) 70.9 (4.49) 9,493 0.7   (0.06)
30 through 34 years old 31.6   (1.30) 0.8   (0.04) 34.4   (2.50) 0.8   (0.08) 15,250 (977.2) 41.0   (3.06) 2.7 ! (1.10) 23.7   (2.63) 74.0 (2.54) 12,681 0.8   (0.07)
35 through 39 years old 35.1   (1.02) 0.9   (0.03) 29.2   (2.15) 0.7   (0.07) 15,286 (922.4) 41.7   (4.16) 1.0 ! (0.46) 21.6   (3.15) 77.7 (3.00) 13,807 0.9   (0.14)
40 through 44 years old 36.6   (1.29) 0.9   (0.04) 36.4   (2.44) 0.8   (0.07) 18,141 (946.3) 39.8   (2.73)   (†) 23.3   (2.60) 71.2 (3.15) 15,586 0.9   (0.07)
45 through 49 years old 39.6   (1.94) 1.0   (0.06) 30.4   (2.42) 0.7   (0.06) 18,149 (842.5) 45.0   (2.15) 0.7 ! (0.29) 19.0   (2.09) 73.5 (2.68) 16,809 0.9   (0.06)
50 through 54 years old 34.4   (1.69) 0.9   (0.04) 34.7   (2.57) 0.8   (0.07) 14,624 (732.1) 42.6   (2.49) 0.7 ! (0.32) 19.5   (1.92) 76.3 (2.27) 14,881 1.0   (0.10)
55 through 59 years old 26.7   (1.86) 0.7   (0.06) 30.3   (2.83) 0.6   (0.08) 10,522 (676.0) 44.7   (2.98)   (†) 18.3   (1.93) 73.0 (2.95) 9,901 0.9   (0.09)
60 through 64 years old 21.1   (2.41) 0.5   (0.06) 27.2   (3.80) 0.7   (0.15) 6,021 (498.8) 38.9   (3.97)   (†) 23.4   (3.52) 73.0 (4.22) 4,919 0.8   (0.10)
65 years old and over 13.7   (1.86) 0.4   (0.06) 20.3   (4.21) 0.4   (0.08) 5,812 (493.3) 21.6   (3.48) #   (†) 17.4   (3.13) 74.2 (3.75) 2,343 0.4   (0.07)
65 through 69 13.1   (2.28) 0.4   (0.08)   (†)   (†) 3,385 (415.5) 19.1   (4.05) #   (†) 20.9   (4.88) 75.4 (5.18) 1,102 0.3   (0.08)
70 and over 14.6   (2.85) 0.4   (0.09)   (†)   (†) 2,427 (282.3) 25.1   (5.81) #   (†) 12.6   (2.93) 72.6 (6.11) 1,241 0.5   (0.14)
                                                           
Race/ethnicity                                                          
White 33.2   (0.61) 0.8   (0.02) 32.8   (0.98) 0.6   (0.03) 94,881 (1,538.6) 41.3   (0.93) 1.2   (0.25) 22.2   (1.11) 75.3 (1.17) 82,511 0.9   (0.03)
Black 26.2   (1.46) 0.7   (0.04) 28.1   (2.34) 1.0   (0.07) 13,773 (533.2) 39.2   (3.82) 1.7 ! (0.83) 23.5   (3.04) 66.9 (3.02) 10,311 0.7   (0.11)
Hispanic 18.1   (1.00) 0.4   (0.02) 16.4   (1.83) 0.5   (0.05) 15,741 (681.1) 25.0   (2.66) 2.9   (0.85) 16.2   (2.31) 65.8 (3.39) 8,786 0.6   (0.11)
Asian   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) 3,770 (520.7) 36.9   (7.00)   (†) 32.3   (7.26) 81.1 (5.88) 2,207 0.6   (0.12)
Pacific Islander   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)
Asian/Pacific Islander 25.5   (2.69) 0.6   (0.07) 32.8   (4.84) 0.4 ! (0.15) (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)
American Indian/Alaska Native 34.0   (6.32) 0.9   (0.20) 29.5 ! (11.52)   (†) (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)
Two or more races   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) 3,786 (562.7) 39.1   (6.85)   (†) 22.6   (6.34) 77.6 (8.40) 3,083 0.8   (0.15)
Other races 25.3   (2.99) 0.7   (0.09)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)
                                                           
Highest level of education
   completed
                                                         
Less than high school completion 8.8   (1.05) 0.1   (0.02) 7.9   (2.29) 0.4   (0.05) 16,627 (838.2) 10.4   (2.11) 2.4 ! (0.90) 8.8   (1.54) 57.0 (3.76) 2,592 0.2   (0.03)
8th grade or less 6.1 ! (2.00) 0.1 ! (0.04)   (†)   (†) 5,016 (599.7) 2.7 ! (1.12)   (†) 3.8 ! (1.71) 46.7 (7.11) 197 #   (†)
9th through 12th grade,
  no completion
10.0   (1.27) 0.2   (0.02)   (†)   (†) 11,610 (792.8) 13.7   (2.99)   (†) 11.0   (2.06) 61.5 (4.05) 2,396 0.2   (0.04)
High school completion 20.9   (0.79) 0.4   (0.02) 21.4   (1.45) 0.8   (0.03) 34,121 (1,147.2) 24.7   (1.76) 1.3 ! (0.46) 17.1   (1.89) 63.4 (2.55) 16,640 0.5   (0.05)
Some vocational/technical 32.3   (2.50) 0.8   (0.07) 28.7   (5.76) 0.9   (0.17) 3,744 (393.1) 48.2   (5.92)   (†) 25.5   (4.61) 74.0 (5.54) 3,802 1.0   (0.17)
Some college 29.9   (0.91) 0.7   (0.03) 29.0   (1.78) 0.7   (0.06) 24,479 (1,067.7) 39.9   (2.36) 1.9 ! (0.69) 25.2   (2.50) 79.8 (2.04) 18,437 0.8   (0.05)
Associate's degree 39.2   (1.58) 1.0   (0.05) 39.7   (3.07) 0.9   (0.09) 9,943 (730.7) 50.4   (3.71) 2.3 ! (0.84) 19.1   (2.86) 78.4 (3.88) 14,224 1.4   (0.21)
Bachelor's degree 44.6   (1.33) 1.2   (0.04) 43.8   (2.01) 1.0   (0.06) 26,475 (902.7) 53.1   (1.88)   (†) 29.0   (1.77) 78.7 (1.94) 28,099 1.1   (0.06)
Some graduate work (or study) 50.2   (1.63) 1.4   (0.05) 46.8   (4.17) 1.2   (0.14) 17,998 (735.4) 61.1   (2.16)   (†) 28.6   (2.01) 88.8 (1.16) 24,649 1.4   (0.07)
No degree 44.3   (3.18) 1.2   (0.10) 54.2   (4.94) 1.2   (0.14) 2,125 (227.9) 53.8   (5.79)   (†) 39.3   (6.05) 75.0 (5.64) 2,412 1.1   (0.16)
Master's 50.5   (1.99) 1.4   (0.06) 45.3   (2.97) 1.1   (0.11) 11,330 (614.7) 62.7   (2.98)   (†) 28.2   (2.27) 90.5 (1.40) 15,394 1.4   (0.09)
Doctor's 40.4   (6.42) 1.0   (0.16) 34.4   (4.79) 0.7   (0.12) 1,600 (227.2) 49.0   (5.80)   (†) 28.8   (4.76) 87.8 (4.35) 2,204 1.4   (0.36)
Professional 67.6   (3.89) 2.0   (0.15) 67.6   (6.98) 1.9   (0.31) 2,943 (382.7) 66.5   (6.39)   (†) 22.1   (5.05) 92.9 (2.21) 4,639 1.6   (0.21)
                                                           
Locale2                                                           
City   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) 39,283 (1,391.3) 39.6   (1.67) 2.2   (0.60) 23.1   (1.43) 74.0 (1.77) 34,327 0.9   (0.05)
Suburban   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) 48,452 (1,555.0) 41.1   (1.87) 1.2   (0.32) 23.3   (1.38) 74.2 (1.49) 39,802 0.8   (0.04)
Town   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) 17,616 (1,060.7) 36.0   (2.64)   (†) 19.6   (2.83) 71.7 (3.02) 12,947 0.7   (0.07)
Rural   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) 27,847 (885.2) 35.4   (2.14) 1.4 ! (0.58) 19.0   (2.19) 72.7 (2.22) 21,135 0.8   (0.06)
                                                           
Occupation                                                          
Executive, administrative, or
   managerial occupations
42.9   (1.49) 1.2   (0.05) 40.6   (2.06) 1.0   (0.07) 14,596 (707.6) 53.6   (2.79)   (†) 29.5   (2.89) 77.7 (2.87) 16,567 1.1   (0.09)
Engineers, surveyors,
   and architects
44.2   (4.46) 1.1   (0.12) 52.1   (6.96) 1.0   (0.16) 1,987 (244.9) 56.3   (5.68)   (†) 30.5   (6.36) 81.0 (4.73) 2,323 1.2   (0.16)
Natural scientists and
   mathematicians
59.7   (3.97) 1.7   (0.15) 46.0   (6.61) 0.8   (0.14) 4,130 (445.4) 51.5   (5.64)   (†) 31.2   (4.83) 85.3 (5.44) 3,693 0.9   (0.11)
Social scientists and workers,
   religious workers, and lawyers
59.5   (2.61) 1.8   (0.11) 56.9   (5.66) 1.7   (0.24) 4,697 (480.9) 66.8   (4.48)   (†) 28.3   (3.81) 88.6 (2.95) 7,822 1.7   (0.29)
Teachers, elementary/secondary 53.9   (2.23) 1.5   (0.08) 52.1   (3.53) 1.2   (0.11) 7,085 (568.5) 67.7   (4.16)   (†) 31.5   (3.93) 83.0 (2.79) 12,233 1.7   (0.13)
Teachers, postsecondary and
   counselors, librarians, and
   archivists
41.6   (4.57) 1.0   (0.15) 35.6   (5.85) 0.7   (0.14) 2,393 (420.9) 53.1   (8.63)   (†) 17.7   (4.91) 90.9 (3.97) 2,122 0.9   (0.09)
Health diagnosing and treating
   practitioners
68.6   (5.85) 2.0   (0.23) 65.2   (11.99) 1.5 ! (0.50) 978 (208.8) 78.9   (7.10)   (†) 27.4 ! (9.60) 86.6 (5.37) 1,951 2.0   (0.25)
Registered nurses, pharmacists,
   dieticians, therapists, and
   physician's assistants
72.8   (3.02) 2.2   (0.14) 72.2   (5.04) 1.8   (0.21) 2,794 (238.8) 79.7   (4.60)   (†) 29.4   (4.17) 84.3 (3.70) 4,984 1.8   (0.15)
Writers, artists, entertainers,
   and athletes
23.4   (2.89) 0.5   (0.07) 30.6   (6.21) 0.6   (0.18) 2,969 (405.2) 29.9   (5.69)   (†) 31.8   (6.15) 88.9 (4.39) 1,865 0.6   (0.15)
Health technologists and
   technicians
50.0   (4.08) 1.4   (0.12) 41.8   (6.00) 1.0   (0.19) 3,060 (436.7) 70.6   (7.31)   (†) 27.8   (6.48) 77.5 (6.40) 4,473 1.5   (0.18)
Technologists and technicians,
   except health
43.8   (2.67) 1.1   (0.10) 37.6   (4.87) 1.0   (0.15) 1,774 (336.5) 29.4   (8.10)   (†) 5.3 ! (2.02) 75.2 (8.98) 1,015 0.6   (0.17)
Marketing and sales occupations 25.2   (1.26) 0.6   (0.03) 21.1   (2.27) 0.4   (0.06) 14,845 (971.9) 32.3   (3.17)   (†) 20.8   (2.64) 70.5 (3.53) 7,724 0.5   (0.05)
Administrative support occupa-
   tions, including clerical
30.8   (1.15) 0.7   (0.03) 27.4   (2.02) 0.6   (0.05) 21,167 (1,179.4) 36.1   (2.95) 0.8 ! (0.40) 28.2   (2.28) 72.9 (2.37) 15,443 0.7   (0.10)
Service occupations 22.6   (1.25) 0.6   (0.04) 21.0   (2.15) 0.5   (0.07) 17,180 (1,033.7) 33.7   (3.13) 1.1 ! (0.36) 16.2   (2.31) 69.0 (2.74) 13,029 0.8   (0.10)
Agriculture, forestry, and
   fishing occupations
12.4   (2.47) 0.3   (0.07) 12.2 ! (4.09) 0.2 ! (0.07) 2,522 (423.8) 22.4 ! (7.61)   (†) 23.0 ! (11.03) 62.9 (11.04) 960 0.4 ! (0.12)
Mechanics and repairers 29.1   (2.62) 0.7   (0.08) 15.0   (3.40) 0.3   (0.09) 5,241 (521.6) 28.3   (4.47) 4.0 ! (1.44) 12.6   (3.24) 69.3 (4.36) 2,669 0.5   (0.09)
Construction and extractive
   occupations
18.6   (2.33) 0.3   (0.04) 13.2   (3.16) 0.2   (0.06) 6,827 (647.1) 12.4   (3.04) 5.3 ! (2.26) 7.8   (1.88) 69.0 (5.25) 2,323 0.3 ! (0.13)
Precision production3  25.6   (4.04) 0.6   (0.12) 18.3 ! (6.52) 0.4 ! (0.12) 10,483 (839.3) 23.5   (3.79)   (†) 14.0   (3.34) 64.9 (3.74) 4,904 0.5   (0.07)
Production workers 14.8   (1.13) 0.3   (0.02) 23.0   (3.17) 0.5   (0.08) (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)
Transportation and material moving 15.8   (1.83) 0.3   (0.04) 18.4   (3.62) 0.3   (0.06) 7,858 (742.5) 15.2   (2.81)   (†) 10.5   (3.10) 62.5 (5.32) 1,935 0.2   (0.05)
Handlers, equipment cleaners,
   helpers, and laborers
11.7   (2.77) 0.2   (0.06)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)
Miscellaneous occupations 38.8   (3.50) 1.0   (0.11) 14.2 ! (4.62) 0.3 ! (0.08) 801 (189.4) 17.2 ! (6.87)   (†) 8.7 ! 4.3 48.3 (13.96) 409   (†)
                                                           
Annual household income                                                          
$10,000 or less 12.6   (1.31) 0.2   (0.03) 9.5 ! (3.09) 0.2 ! (0.05) 4,425 (444.8) 16.7   (4.35)   (†) 26.2 ! (7.96) 69.7 (5.72) 1,556 0.4 ! (0.12)
$5,000 or less 8.7   (1.91) 0.1   (0.03)   (†)   (†) 1,635 (252.7) 19.1 ! (6.52)   (†) 22.9 ! (7.91) 60.9 (8.84) 850   (†)
$5,001 to $10,000 15.1   (1.62) 0.3   (0.04)   (†)   (†) 2,791 (454.1) 15.3 ! (5.68)   (†) 28.1 ! (12.27) 74.8 (6.88) 706 0.3 ! (0.10)
$10,001 to $15,000 15.1   (1.71) 0.4   (0.04) 8.3   (1.88) 0.1   (0.03) 4,814 (633.4) 22.2   (5.77)   (†) 17.3 ! (5.25) 64.5 (7.57) 2,189 0.5   (0.12)
$15,001 to $20,000 20.1   (1.36) 0.4   (0.03) 16.3   (2.75) 0.3   (0.05) 4,515 (398.8) 18.2   (3.09) 5.7 ! (2.71) 11.5   (1.96) 60.4 (5.11) 1,322 0.3   (0.05)
$20,001 to $25,000 20.4   (1.52) 0.5   (0.05) 18.8   (2.79) 0.4   (0.08) 5,593 (490.2) 23.8   (4.02) 1.1 ! (0.51) 13.3   (3.21) 71.5 (4.11) 2,817 0.5   (0.10)
$25,001 to $30,000 24.7   (1.34) 0.5   (0.03) 22.2   (2.73) 0.5   (0.07) 7,444 (680.4) 31.4   (4.88)   (†) 16.7   (3.77) 73.5 (3.91) 4,322 0.6   (0.11)
$30,001 to $40,000 30.2   (1.13) 0.8   (0.03) 26.6   (2.82) 0.6   (0.07) 13,123 (928.5) 35.1   (3.45) 1.5 ! (0.65) 21.7   (3.71) 69.1 (3.55) 8,224 0.6   (0.06)
$40,001 to $50,000 34.7   (1.30) 0.8   (0.04) 32.3   (2.34) 0.7   (0.07) 13,647 (1,058.4) 31.5   (3.01) 1.8 ! (0.72) 20.1   (3.32) 73.5 (2.78) 10,072 0.7   (0.10)
$50,001 to $75,000 40.0   (1.18) 1.0   (0.04) 36.6   (1.86) 0.9   (0.06) 33,665 (1,430.4) 42.7   (1.80) 1.2 ! (0.51) 20.9   (2.10) 71.3 (2.55) 28,991 0.9   (0.06)
More than $75,000 45.2   (1.40) 1.3   (0.04) 42.5   (1.79) 1.0   (0.06) 46,160 (1,263.3) 48.1   (1.57) 1.3 ! (0.39) 26.0   (1.37) 79.2 (1.55) 48,951 1.1   (0.05)
—Not available.
†Not applicable.
#Rounds to zero.
!Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.
‡Reporting standards not met. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is 50 percent or greater.
1 The 2005 estimates on participation in career- or job-related courses were based on responses to multiple questions. Specifically, respondents were first asked what courses they had taken, and then whether each course was career- or job-related. In contrast, 1995 and 1999 respondents were asked a single, general question about whether they had participated in any career- or job-related courses. Therefore, 2005 results may not be comparable to results from the earlier years.
2 Detail may not sum to totals due to missing locale information.
3 For 2005, figures include "Production workers" occupations data.
NOTE: Data do not include persons enrolled in high school or below. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Adult Education Survey (AE-NHES:1995, AE-NHES:1999, and AE-NHES:2005) of the National Household Education Surveys Program. (This table was prepared October 2010.)

2019 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest