-
About one-fourth of young adults aged 18-34 are not in the labor force
-
About one in five (20%) youth aged 18-34 do not have a high school degree
-
61% have some college
-
19% have a college degree or higher.
-
Community colleges are the largest and fasting growing sector of higher
education. The 1,158 public two-year colleges enroll 45% of all U.S. undergraduates.
The American Association of Community Colleges reports that 10.4 million
students are enrolled in CC.
-
Community colleges are the most affordable (average annual tuition of
$2076), most accessible (there is a community college within a short distance
of 90% of the population), and most egalitarian, serving more than half
of all minority and first-generation college students. It is roughly estimated
that 80% of community college students are the first person in their families
to attend college.
-
Community college students are far more diverse than the student population
of four-year colleges. According to the American Association of Community
Colleges, minority students account for 30% of all community college enrollments
nationally.
-
Most community college students are working while they attend school and
many have children.
-
Among youth aged 18–24 in 1973, 1985, and 1997, earnings in 1997
were the lowest of all three time periods.
[Smith chapter/brief]
[data
brief]
- Employment rates for youth a ge 16-24 at an historic low. However, the
gender gap has disappeared. Small businesses are key employers of youth.
[conference
summary—Ed Montgomery].
- More 18-24 year olds today are working part-time than in 1973. One-fourth
of youth today work part-time while only about 11% did in the early 1970s.
[Smith chapter/brief]
- Males fare worse in the job force than women, as measured by occupational
status. Nearly 40% of females aged 18-34 hold higher end jobs (professional,
technical, white-collar occupations), while only about one-fourth of
men do. The proportions are the mirror opposite for the low-wage labor market.
[Rumbaut working
paper]
- Racial inequality in earnings and employment increased between the 1970s
and 1980s. African American men born in the 1960s fared much worse than those
born in the 1950s. Gaps between the employment rates of black and white men
at age 27 grew from 13.1 percentage points in the 1970s to 20.9 percentage
points in the 1980s. The gap between white and black women grew from only
1 percentage point among the first cohort to 15.4 percentage points among
the second.
[Corcoran chapter
brief]
Source: [Corcoran chapter
brief]
- Almost one in four African American men reported 52 or more weeks of nonwork
between ages 24 and 26. Even more disturbing, 5% of African American men
did not work at all in those three years.
[Corcoran chapter
brief]
- White women’s wages and household income increased dramatically
between the 1970s and the 1980s. Black women’s average household incomes
declined 13% between the 1970s and 1980s. White men’s economic fortunes
changed very little, while black men saw large drops in average earnings,
average wages, and average incomes.
[Corcoran chapter
brief]
Education
- Males fare slightly worse than women in educational attainment.
Percentage with less than high school degree
22.4% males
17.1% females
Percentage with high school or some college
59.8% males
61.5% females
Percentage with college or more
17.8% males
21.3% females
Source: [Rumbaut working
paper]
- College still pays : Assuming costs of college, “opportunity” costs
of attending (based on forgone wages relative to those of a high school grad),
and factoring in the boost to lifetime earnings, a student entering college
today can expect to recoup her investment within 10 years of graduation.
See Does
College Still Pay? By Lisa Barrow and Network member Cecilia
Elena Rouse, The Economists’ Voice.
- Parents provide, on average, $38,000 in material assistance for their
child, or about $2,200 for every year between ages 18 and 34—considerably
more than in the past.
[schoeni chapter/brief]
- Children in the top one-fourth of income categories receive at least 70%
more in material assistance than do children in the bottom one-fourth. This
occurs even though higher-income youth are only 10–15% more likely
to attend college than low-income youth. Both low-income and high-income
parents spend almost identical amounts of time helping their children, at
3,864 and 3,869 hours, respectively.
[schoeni chapter/brief]
SOURCE: Unless otherwise indicated, all data from On
the Frontier of Adulthood: Theory, Research, and Public Policy,
edited by Richard Settersten, Jr., Frank Furstenberg, Jr., and Ruben Rumbaut. Names
in parenthesis indicate chapter author, and accompanying policy brief based
on the book.
top
|
