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Digest of Education Statistics
2023 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 2023
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Age group and highest level of educational attainment197519801985199019952000200520102013201520192020202120222023
12345678910111213141516
16 to 19 years old, all education levels1---(†)---(†)---(†)60.8(2.03)58.0(2.13)62.6(2.09)53.7(1.40)43.2(1.30)46.3(1.40)49.2(1.36)57.6(1.37)53.5(1.68)54.1(1.50)53.4(1.58)59.0(1.50)
  Less than high school completion---(†)---(†)---(†)44.2(3.08)44.0(3.13)52.2(3.19)39.4(2.01)29.4(1.83)32.6(2.03)35.3(2.03)41.1(2.39)37.8(2.35)39.7(2.44)39.3(2.41)40.6(2.75)
  High school completion2---(†)---(†)---(†)74.2(2.54)70.1(2.99)70.1(2.92)65.0(2.04)51.1(1.84)52.7(2.15)56.1(1.83)65.5(1.87)61.8(2.38)58.4(2.05)60.2(2.12)66.0(1.84)
  At least some college---(†)---(†)---(†)76.8(9.32)71.6(6.38)78.2(6.22)66.6(4.54)57.5(3.99)63.5(3.96)65.7(3.40)74.7(3.60)67.7(4.28)69.8(3.33)64.6(4.57)77.0(3.54)
 
20 to 24 years old, all education levels1---(†)---(†)---(†)75.6(0.90)73.7(0.93)77.4(0.93)73.2(0.66)65.5(0.72)68.5(0.72)71.4(0.66)77.4(0.59)73.9(0.75)71.6(0.72)75.1(0.64)78.6(0.72)
  Less than high school completion---(†)---(†)---(†)54.4(2.29)52.7(2.41)60.8(2.43)55.7(1.27)44.4(1.58)46.8(1.88)51.4(2.17)57.6(2.49)48.9(2.82)54.8(2.56)56.0(2.71)63.4(2.35)
  High school completion2---(†)---(†)---(†)76.6(1.26)72.2(1.46)76.5(1.46)72.3(0.91)61.5(1.01)63.5(1.16)66.9(1.01)73.4(0.96)68.7(1.11)66.8(0.94)71.4(0.88)74.7(1.08)
  Some college, no bachelor's degree3---(†)---(†)---(†)85.6(1.69)83.6(1.52)86.6(1.49)80.3(1.19)72.9(1.27)75.3(1.15)76.4(1.03)80.5(1.05)77.7(1.21)74.8(1.35)78.5(1.34)81.4(1.26)
  Bachelor's or higher degree---(†)---(†)---(†)93.34(1.57)90.9(1.76)87.8(2.07)89.3(1.16)86.5(1.37)86.6(1.46)88.9(1.05)90.4(1.14)88.0(1.32)85.1(1.35)88.4(1.16)90.5(1.15)
 
25 to 64 years old, all education levels65.8(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)71.5(0.19)72.1(0.19)73.1(0.19)75.6(0.18)74.7(0.19)72.9(0.22)75.8(0.19)76.1(0.20)
  Less than high school completion55.3(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)52.1(0.60)53.2(0.60)54.7(0.58)56.1(0.58)55.1(0.76)52.1(0.75)56.2(0.80)57.6(0.80)
  High school completion265.7(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)67.0(0.36)66.7(0.38)67.3(0.37)69.9(0.35)67.8(0.39)65.4(0.37)69.3(0.38)69.1(0.42)
  Some college, no bachelor's degree371.7(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)72.7(0.30)73.1(0.31)74.1(0.32)76.0(0.31)74.6(0.35)72.5(0.37)75.7(0.38)75.9(0.36)
  Bachelor's or higher degree82.54(0.68)84.54(0.55)85.64(0.51)86.74(0.47)86.5(0.44)86.4(0.42)83.7(0.26)81.6(0.24)81.9(0.26)82.8(0.26)84.3(0.27)83.6(0.25)82.6(0.27)84.5(0.24)84.7(0.27)
 
  25 to 34 years old, all education levels67.7(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)73.2(0.34)74.6(0.33)76.0(0.35)79.4(0.34)77.6(0.34)76.0(0.38)79.7(0.35)80.4(0.34)
    Less than high school completion52.9(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)55.1(0.95)57.4(1.03)56.5(1.11)57.4(1.41)56.9(1.68)53.2(1.69)60.6(1.64)59.9(1.77)
    High school completion265.5(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)68.1(0.72)68.2(0.68)70.4(0.72)73.6(0.72)69.2(0.78)67.5(0.76)72.5(0.74)73.8(0.65)
    Some college, no bachelor's degree371.7(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)72.9(0.57)74.9(0.65)76.4(0.60)79.7(0.57)78.1(0.66)74.6(0.67)79.4(0.73)80.3(0.70)
    Bachelor's or higher degree82.04(1.04)85.44(0.82)86.64(0.79)88.14(0.76)88.1(0.75)89.0(0.73)84.4(0.52)84.0(0.49)84.4(0.45)84.8(0.48)86.9(0.45)85.7(0.51)85.9(0.45)87.4(0.44)87.5(0.47)
 
  35 to 44 years old, all education levels70.3(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)76.0(0.30)77.0(0.35)78.3(0.31)80.3(0.31)79.3(0.32)77.2(0.36)80.7(0.34)81.3(0.34)
    Less than high school completion61.4(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)58.2(1.13)61.6(1.03)62.3(0.84)63.3(1.11)60.3(1.26)59.0(1.27)63.2(1.34)64.1(1.36)
    High school completion269.6(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)72.4(0.64)72.6(0.66)72.5(0.63)74.6(0.71)73.7(0.71)70.4(0.78)74.5(0.78)75.2(0.77)
   Some college, no bachelor's degree374.5(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)76.9(0.53)77.0(0.64)79.6(0.53)81.2(0.58)79.1(0.66)76.9(0.70)80.4(0.70)80.4(0.68)
    Bachelor's or higher degree84.54(1.31)87.14(1.00)88.84(0.80)89.54(0.72)88.5(0.71)87.6(0.74)85.9(0.41)84.7(0.39)84.8(0.43)86.7(0.39)87.3(0.39)86.6(0.41)85.1(0.43)87.8(0.39)88.7(0.41)
 
  45 to 54 years old, all education levels68.4(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)74.7(0.35)74.9(0.30)75.9(0.33)79.0(0.34)78.7(0.35)76.4(0.39)78.9(0.39)79.3(0.40)
    Less than high school completion59.8(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)52.5(1.05)53.3(1.04)56.8(1.16)60.4(1.20)59.5(1.43)55.1(1.29)58.2(1.53)62.4(1.30)
    High school completion268.8(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)71.0(0.65)70.1(0.60)70.9(0.63)74.0(0.76)73.4(0.76)69.8(0.73)72.9(0.82)71.9(0.93)
    Some college, no bachelor's degree374.7(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)77.3(0.54)77.4(0.53)77.1(0.60)79.6(0.58)79.0(0.61)76.8(0.74)80.2(0.70)79.8(0.74)
    Bachelor's or higher degree87.14(1.36)87.34(1.21)87.94(1.16)89.44(0.97)89.5(0.78)89.7(0.71)87.5(0.45)84.4(0.45)84.7(0.47)85.7(0.43)87.1(0.47)86.4(0.43)85.1(0.45)86.9(0.52)87.4(0.44)
 
  55 to 64 years old, all education levels54.6(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)60.6(0.41)61.3(0.43)61.9(0.37)63.7(0.43)63.2(0.43)61.8(0.44)63.8(0.42)63.1(0.49)
    Less than high school completion48.5(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)40.0(1.19)38.5(1.32)42.4(1.12)44.1(1.22)45.4(1.27)42.0(1.29)45.1(1.33)45.6(1.35)
    High school completion256.5(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)55.1(0.71)56.3(0.74)56.9(0.74)59.3(0.67)57.4(0.72)55.8(0.73)59.2(0.72)57.5(0.75)
    Some college, no bachelor's degree362.6(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)61.8(0.76)62.3(0.72)63.2(0.68)63.9(0.74)63.1(0.81)62.3(0.79)63.6(0.86)63.5(0.84)
    Bachelor's or higher degree72.64(2.34)71.94(1.96)71.34(1.83)70.54(1.79)70.0(1.72)71.9(1.49)73.5(0.74)72.0(0.65)72.4(0.67)72.3(0.62)74.0(0.71)73.8(0.70)72.3(0.63)73.6(0.63)72.8(0.74)
---Not available.
†Not applicable.
1Data for 16- to 19-year-olds and 20- to 24-year-olds exclude persons enrolled in school.
2Data for years prior to 1992 are for persons with 4 or more years of high school. Data for later years are for high school completers--i.e., those persons who graduated from high school with a diploma as well as those who completed high school through equivalency programs, such as a GED program.
3Includes persons with no college degree as well as those with an associate's degree.
4Data are for persons with 4 or more years of college, even if they did not complete a degree.
NOTE: Data are based on sample surveys of the noninstitutionalized population, which excludes persons living in institutions (e.g., prisons or nursing facilities); this table includes only data on the civilian population (excludes all military personnel). 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. Caution should be used when comparing 2020, 2021, and 2022 estimates to those of other years due to the impact that the coronavirus pandemic had on interviewing and response rates. For additional information about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Current Population Survey data collection, please see https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsmar23.pdf.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), Annual Social and Economic Supplement, selected years, 1975 through 2023. (This table was prepared September 2023.)

2023 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest