SCHOOL DROPOUTS

The survey sustained earlier findings showing the less favorable labor market position of school dropouts compared with high school graduates. Furthermore, the situation for dropouts can be expected to worsen in the coming years, because little growth or some declines are expected in occupations with low educational and skill requirements, and workers without at least a high school diploma will have increasing difficulty entering expanding occupations where educational and training qualifications are high.

In addition to their educational handicap, many school dropouts suffer in the job market because of their extreme youth. Of the approximately 300,000 young people 16 to 24 years of age in October 1962 who dropped out of school between January and October, about three-fourths were either 16 or 17 years old. Only one-fifth of the June graduates were in these ages, while three-fifths of the graduates were 18 years old.

Other characteristics of dropouts distinguishing them from high school graduates are the higher proportions who are in farm areas (judging from the number in farm jobs) or who are nonwhite. Twenty-one percent of the 1962 school dropouts employed in October were in farmwork, compared with 10 percent of the June graduates. Considering that a large portion of farm residents work at nonfarm jobs, the proportion of all dropouts residing on farms would be significantly higher. Nonwhite youth accounted for about one-fourth of the 1962 school dropouts, about twice the proportion they comprised of the June 1962 graduates.

TABLE 4.-Unemployment and economic part-time work1 for high school graduates not enrolled in college and school dropouts, 16 to 24 years of age, October 1962

1 Includes slack work, material shortages, repairs to plant or equipment, start or termination of job during survey week, and inability to find full-time work.

* Data not available for 1960.

Percent not shown where base is less than 100,000.

Age 16 was the most common age (as of October) for the 1962 dropouts and a sizable number were reported as having left school at an even earlier age.

98-466-63-vol. 5—11

TABLE 5.-Employment status of June 1962 high school graduates not enrolled in college and of 1962 school dropouts, by sex, color, and marital status, October 1962

Percent not shown where base is less than 100,000.

• Includes widowed, divorced, and separated women.

NOTE.-Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals.

[Percent distribution of persons 16 to 24 years of age]

1 Data include a relatively small number of Januaryl 962 graduates

NOTE.-Because of rounding, sums of Individual items may not equal totals.

Percent not shown where base is less than 100,000

A much smaller proportion of the 1962 dropouts (56 percent) than of the graduates (80 percent) were working or looking for work (table 5). A substantial part of the difference was accounted for by women dropouts who were already married, but men and single women who dropped out of school were also less likely to be in the labor force than those who graduated. Furthermore, the dropouts who were not in the labor force were much less likely than the graduates to be attending special schools for instruction and training which would improve their job opportunities. Only 6 percent of the dropouts not in work force were in these schools, compared with fully one-half (53 percent) of the 1962 graduates who were not in the labor force."

The rate of unemployment for 1962 school dropouts in October was 29 percent, about twice as high as the rate for the June high school graduates, despite the higher proportion of dropouts in farm areas, where unemployment is less common. (This ratio also held true when the comparison was limited to white dropouts and graduates or to men.) The total number of unemployed dropouts 16 to 24 years old, irrespective of the year they left school, was 430,000, representing about two-fifths of all the unemployed in this age group and one-half of all jobless persons in these ages who were not in school.

As shown in previous surveys, the proportion of employed youths in less desirable jobs was also much higher for dropouts than for graduates, reflecting the large representation of nonwhites and farm residents among the dropouts, as well as their youth and inadequate schooling. Among employed men who last attended school in 1961 or 1962, the proportion of farm laborers was about 21⁄2 times as large for young men who dropped out of school (23 percent) as for those who graduated in June 1962 or in 1961 (9 percent) and more of the dropouts were in relatively unskilled service jobs. Only 2 percent of the male dropouts for these years were craftsmen, compared with 11 percent of the graduates, and fewer dropouts than graduates were in white-collar occupations.

Only 16 percent of the female dropouts for these years were in clerical occupations, while 48 percent were in relatively unskilled service occupations, including private household work. For women graduates, the corresponding proportions were 61 percent in clerical occupations and 15 percent in service jobs.

5 Although a much larger proportion of the out-of-labor-force dropouts than graduates were married women, this factor fails to explain entirely the considerable difference noted in attendance at special schools.

On the other hand, the 1962 school dropouts include those who left school as early as January and had somewhat more time to obtain better jobs than the 1962 graduates who left school in June.

7 For dropouts, the 1962 base taken alone is too small for reliable comparisons.