DOaFMENT RESUME

ED 126 248 CE 007 254:-. . .

AUTHOR Young, Anne,BcDougall ,-,,

t

TITLE ' Goi-ng Back t'o School at 35 aud=Over. SpeciarLaborFor ort 184. .

INSTITUTION--4---- ureau o'..f Laboi-Statistics (DOD), Washington, D.C.PUB DATE Dec 75

.

NOTE 12p.A - .

EDRS-PRfCE MP -50.83 BC-$1.67 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS .Adult .Characteristics; *A,dult Students; *C011ege

Attendance; Higher Education; Labor Force; RationarSurveys;- Sampling; *Secondary Schools; *StatisticalSurveys; *Student Enrollment;.Vocatioi-al Development; .

*Vocational Schools

ABSTEACTThe report, based on a 1974 sample of 47,000

households, describes the school enrollment of older adults workingtoward a high school or college diploma or a trade schoolcertificate. Data, summarized in narrative and tabular form, showthat two-thirds of the one and one-half million students age 35 and-

,over in the United States were enrolled in college (including 285,000in graduate school), and about 400,000 were attending trade orvocational sobool. /he remainder, 00,000) were enrolled in highschtol. About 14% of tfie adults iii\echOol were black. Women studentsin the group generally had higher labor force participation rates,age for age,than women in the population as a whole. Younger malestudents in the -group had rates similar to those of 'their nonstudentcontemporaries. The rate for male students 45 and over was

,substantiallyhighep than fdi nonstudents. This finding suggests thatolder persons, in school had a very strong attachment to,thejorkforce, and their scbol enrollment vas therefore ancillary tb careerdevelopment: A four-page explaffEiory note briefly describes the basiclabor force Concepts, sample design, estimating methods, andreliability'og-the data:, (A4thor/BS)'

f-

**********************************************************************Documents acquired by ERIC include many inforkal unpublished

* materials not available froi other sources. ERIC makes every effort ** to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless; items of marginal ** reproducibility.are ofteif-encountered and this affects the quality ***

of the microfiche aid hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available,via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not

*

* responsible' for the quality of the original document. Reproductions ** supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made-from the original. */0***********************/0/0/0/0/0*******************************/0/0/0/0/0/0/0444,*

A--1- t. "'Going Back ,to.Sch6o1 atri%.-C>

. 35 and Over t

CD Special Labor

La Force Report 184

.o-ar.y,U.S. OEPARTP.tE NT OF LABOR

I

to

U S DEPARTMENT°, HEALTH,EDUCATION &WELFARENATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

EDUCATION

THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO-DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROMTHE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN.AT1NG POINTS OF VIE* OR OPINIONSSTATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OFEDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY

7

-

a

_ -- ." 4 : :- ;,. - c.:-. --..-: --,:-..-".--, =

-

. 1.aicss ider.tined ..1,5..op);-;,1-:d...tt-t!..14.4:2=i..11sis.t.,;.f. $4 flip, ci.4,...-4,-15.4A .412,44 :1-12-p4b1.1.014; ...311,1-n - .., ........be'repic-i laza 7.ittvat gITTIL, a v; the Feler.11Gt...,trulterntle-ce ..re,la the..Bu=v ori.--1-Asktsti,44., . -..,, ,s.

3 a a

Ffikf-li:-: is a ILI' .4 repr.r. r i ,-. I Spi.:;11. Lalsk4 ti),e ..%#. g,:;!-,,S1--:-.-e &-'ea.1-4-144,-A.1.-n-thil-k-Addk-/-44!_- ..,,

Rt-Thr.v"sm-c-Vebr.igr}.- 19-a Ci-..,p.-s_r-ta3, _Fe vbtahleil. 7. tole the sus ki.....41-1111.1P4W:St to thelti,ithi,1.01.: Labot-_ ., .-St3tiSt"4.'S iii:f.) zuly-of its rs-z,lkaroffices. 1-" ... t -:'-' - _

__*---:-..--"- ---.7'--- - -"-..:_: f 9 '........si. . ". , -'774* . `'.._-' ' 7 - - N'"1- -- , .""' . _- .i... . - -

..4- --= - -Nurr,ber - . - ". _ --:...-1

. ._. .--...- ..._

., .- ,, 15r Empleyw.iii--,Rc5-xt-colt.i...e Gracua!s.,--0,1,-;r,-,4if-ilf35.2 Chrir-Z,S, A e - E r n p , l o y m e n t S i l u i t , i c n i r k 19.7:i ''----

.... .153 -I. alasel Family Chan--of Ilia I...qb7os Peke".-,-AfarZh 197:-.ter4i. I° QT.:later; of Wkvatv, Molten:4March 1913 , ---=-----=t "..='-'-- ' ' . -- _: 37----,

...

-: Eing*.T.t.V.-1 VI,..HW.h SilIC4-G11.11illite3-3T-DTSpiii36":17-ki * --W----------":"7:71:1.-r`-'k--.---\":4-r =-31/4----.7---_7: ?f- _ - - --..-ci . 1:56- -'' 1 h US. Lab cr FZ-; Pig; eCtiorc---63 IWO --If s ...- .. 1.-'::----------------._-"7---- f 7.4- ------

r...4 -1.!+7- ,.lob Lwrs,1..---x.ers,,an -Wain 4: Traits and.T-tend.. ., .. ---------- . cl5S.--, *youit-o.Vort-erc17.--SChoolnld 6 ui

. ... ; i.,iff(*," P '', s' ' ___.... 4

1-75"-f-:=` Crinni: Rick to ...,--hool a-t35 '-' .-, --Y" -''' :', Y-----" 7 ''... 4, .}-14.4I-1_ fdistl;s43-.-s-4-Wini:.e.rs;:grolc;:ligai tl., 199D --- ---,. - ', t. ,,

I-61 Educ-etionalAttainment bf.41;.orktrsigarf/t 19/1? . 7- 1t,.,. 1: , , . , , .

. .,.. 0

1-

n

162.- ENteriencof thtqopulavion-in ch 1972 .;163 , anffifvenTIO}rriant,in-1973 ..-5

Marital and family-Charviensti4-,s of =the Laboi Force inMar.iti 1973-765 ".1:1;;Itireri in'orkirV-Nlothers. faith 1.973

= . 166 fitultiple_lobholding, Mae 1973 ..''''' I ..- d

167 ,,.?Ic311-Situation of V.-retnarurera Veterans -

..: -.- :,.

/04 Employment of Iligh Schoo/Sraduates and Dropouts. 19t31'6f, _ErapfkFrpeut orlfte4nt Collegc,4dunleseOctobe,r.1972.

z. a. , 470 . Employ-trent Of Scheol-Ate Youth,psto/}er- 1973 ' s'-'--.. ,

. 17F- --Work Expedence-otike Population, 1273.t,..2.'r, i Job Tenure .41Vark-iri, Januar); 1973 --- 7 ...--,- --- 4,

173 ' I Marital and y Characteristics.of, the taborTO'rce, March 1974 Jo,c.-1% ,.i->:, 174: i Children -of Uvrking-Mothers, March 197`4, 7,..! ,. _I

i 13 -,;. c.-- 175 Educatival Ailainnientof Workers, Alarch197-4 ,- _

-_, - ....: 17-6 ':Pccuparionalllobiliita-Viorkers"-

.,- .,.:2 077 l\eltinle.1,ohhOIdingirtMay.4974- .,-..

'-'' -^ ' 178 1 E plivinerit'aniliUnOriploymenpip1974: , _ .

. - t72 Tre d$firrOvOtine-Hours andya4, 1969-74F. = _ -' 180- Students; GradUates, and,blopou in-the Labor Ai et, October 19r4,./ ',. Isfii, toit. Experlence of the FoPulatio , £974 : ,,, / '' *

1S2 _MultiPlefabholdi:r5:in May 19-45 - -. ..:e, - -

-183 Marital.ssuil FainiryCliaracteriiti Of".the Labor opelareh 1975..... . 1 -.\ . --.. , ...c -.,..." :.,, i - .

.. .

(.40'

)

- ./

4*

4

Special Labor Force Report shows'

over One!million,workers 35 years old. .

.and over enrolled in scbool

'

two-thirds in.college and othersin.

high school and vocational training-.

ANNE McDOUGALL YOUNG

ONE AND A HALF MILLION PERSONS 35 years of ageor older were ensiled in high schobl or college or -

attending a vocational school in October 1974about 2 percent of the ;:ation's population in thisage group , This countof der adults in schoolcovers only students wo ' ng toward a high schoolor college diploma or a trick" school rtifioafe. Itdoes not-include the very large group of people whoattended classes on special issues 'or personal inter-ests.

Adults go back ;o school for many reasonS.'SOme.,--workers may feel ihat they are handicapped so- ,

Mete skills or may recognize that the , re at a di,-advantage when' competing with those with moreeducation Others 'may wish to,hrus up on. new-

- developments in their fields. Hou3ewrres,,,platiningto rejoin the labor forEi when their children no longerrequire constant attention, may ietum to school tot'complete education which:Was halted many years/earlier w n they married.

.

Some igh school and *College leve programs areaimed ati meeting the particular ne s of peopleabove the conventional schgol age., wever; motof the adults were enrolled along wilt younger stt4--

' ,dents; they contributed to the_rapidi increase since_ 1968 in

'technicalin public '2-year colleges and..

institutions.2. . t- technical nstitutions.z

Two-;thirds of the 1.5'million studind age 35 andover in the -United States were enrolleiLin college(including 285,000 in--graduate school), and about400,000werf attending trade or vocational schdol.The fernafider (80,000) were enrolled in highschool-3 .See 'table 1.) About 14 percent of 'the

' adults in ;school were black,' 'a somewhat higher-percentage than their share of the population over 35.

4 ,

Anne McDotigait Young is an economist )41 rife Dfviston ofLabia/. Force Studies, Bureau of 1.1bor Statistics.

Going -backk

school at35 and over

NJ

'Women students in the group generally had higherlabor force participation rates, age fOr,,age, thanwomen in the population as a whole. Younger malestudents in the group had rates similar to those o.their nonstudent contemporaries; the rate YOr m-students 45 and over was subita. n daily higherfor nonstudents. This finding suggests thiat oldsons in school had a very strong attachme

_work corer, and 'their schoolenrollinentfor ancillary t9 tareer development.than men were enrolled but, as io t population asa whole, a higher/proportion of the men than of thewomen were in the labor force. (See table 2.) Menenrolled in regular school shad about the same laborforce participation rate as those attending vocationalschool. Among women, the,ra'te was lowpr for thbsein vocational school; probably fewer of the voca-licing students had the qualifications to obtain anaccdptable job before. ccitnpliting -their specialtraining.

Frani the December 19/5Monthly Labor Review

a

e

anper-'

to theas there-

ore women

College enrollment

The number and proportion of adults age 35 andover in school were about the same, in October.1974as in October 1972, when enrollment data were firstcoilectedlicrr this age 'group, but relatively fewer werein vocational schpol and more were in college. Thenumber of persons age 35 and over in college rosesharply (by more than 230,000), while the numberof vocational' school' students in this age group,dropped by 170,009. Recruitment of studenq bymany colleges seeking to maintain enrollment livelsapp4rently coincided with the desire of many work-ers to increase their educition.

About 2.out of 3 itudentsover 35 (both men andwomen) were enrolled in college. Among' thesestudents, approximately 04 mine proportions of mAnand women were attending college pait time,. but

.4

47I

U.S. DEPARTMENT'' OF LABORBurin .of Labor Statistfcs

-

4

yt

\

-

48 MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW, bECEMBER 19,75

Table 1. Type of school attended by persons 35 and Older,..by sex, snafflel status, of women and race, October 1974,

.

'- .

/3=re, seats

Item

. ._Total

Il.pn .

WomenIterr.edOmer -.1 tat

WAN91a:k

Number (Inthousands)

1 537',

6931125521'

797205

Percent

103 0

103 0KO

Tao D14'7 0

:sal103 0

Elementary:and.hrghschool

53

36262

a 60

341' 1

iPerCert er=resatrro

Tom

67 9

4 7

-57 266 669 I

4 7

time -

13 9

11 4141

13 3'1716

College

Parttime

54 0

63 -3 ,54 655 1

X530

56 339 5

UndligLeath:ate,

41 9

46.2,53 9,52446 5

50,2417

Graduate

1.11

0-I 4

4 1. 22 6

19 416 1

Tradeor

vocational,

26'8

, 27.025 627 224 9

25 925 9

I In hides b=rI t a^d P0't t- -t stsdr^ls1 In the Curren: roo,oilloo rtes.! stroo'S are :seed 'spec-as screws

See text rocanote4

Table 2. Employment status of persons age 35 and over in school, by kind of school, age, sex, and race, October 1974IN umbers so thossahcis

,

Age. sesiand rate

4

In school -

force

Percentof total

in school

NotIn

laborforce

In regutir schools II In trade or vocational }oboist 1.

'Total

Labor

i`Number

Total

Labor force. Not(In

laborforce

Total

Labor forcer i. Not

'

NumberPercentof total

In schoolNumb.%

iPkcleng'ofkistaliIn s4hobl

InlaborI arse.,

136th sears.

35 to 39 years _40 to 44 years .. ' i. . -

45 to 49 years,: .. ..50 to 55 years .., .

55 years and over . . ... ...

Mee ..... .. . . .

35 to39 years .. . .10 to 44 years15 years and over ...... .....

,Vfonnee:. .. ...... _

35to39 "ears. .., . .,10 to 4< Years . _ . ,15 years Ind over. . .. . .

tMarried, oSe preen; -Other mjni status... .

Wide ../..t,...'Bled(' fr .

. .

.. ....

......

- ..

4

.

.

.

.

.

.,..: .,

1.502

50)398241170

'984693

269,,.. 185"

236

812

240213359---,

..-594217

1.297285

1.151

403305191

140

114'

607

237166201

547

166. )40

r"--2-41

3954U,

999155....

76 8

79 276 679 382 4

'62 0

88 0

88 189 786 4

67 4

t9265 r671

66 470 114

77 075 6

348

105

93503070

..-41

32

1932

-, 265

-

7.473

118

20365

29850,

1.103

4252E5174

102107..504

227131

,.146

596

198155243

433163

948152

873

339.227

1409472

443

158-118

127

430

.41110

121

75511$

79,4

79 279 4LO 587 067 3

.A'87 290 187 0

72 I

71 271 073 7

11'474 2

79 677 6

2i71... ,

865934

1

35

61

: 2913' 19

166

57

45 .64

124

42

193

34/

402

14II676277

186

4254'-90

216

4258

116

162

54

. 349.53

281

.-

78

51 ,4642

164

394877

117

"253062

8631

24437

"--;;"9 7

76 769'6

. (1)1')

544

88 2'

11)(1)85.6 ,

54 2

(1)(1)

534

53 1.O.

69.9(1)

.'121I' 20

34'I- 16

16

35

r 22

36

13

99

17

2854

7623

. 10516

rReg.im ;..hops al e part or a Pecogn..ed scrwo, system, ovbrn. obrate

parochial Tie, an be scants at any icier elementary high. college, or professional:Regular schools may advance a person toward an elementary schoor certificate Or rlrelpSchool drOdOcrta Ora college 6r Orofesstonal school degree.

1 Inthe CUrrent Population Sooty. theseschools are termed "specal sabots"

mote of the women were in updergraduale programs. .

(See table 3.) About 3 out of 4 of the women col-lege students in jltis, age group were married, buttheir pruportionST'in college full and part- time andtheir labor f.urce, participation rate were not signifi-cantly differept from those for women in 4ther. mar-

They are °etude ieguial school yst and Ofles trade. business. vocation !or oarrob relaredour04 designed pollard to transmit & skill

Percent not shown where besets ess than 75.000.

Setest footnote 4

ital Status categoricthese .women studefor all women ofover 35 who web9u'se they hation,- those stud

".

. The labor force rate for allis was much higher than thatparable age. Most of the women

.back to schodl piobahly did 'sostrong career ambitions. In'addi-

nts whO were already in the labor

NO

*

-..0

a-

RESEARCH SUMMARIES 49 :

Table 3. Labor force table of parson

flizinbees in tacos:

enrolled in regular school, by type of scfiool, age and sex, October 1974

/ ./.";

- /17ype of school and age

/ .t.

Sztfisuts Iden Woo=

Pop',eta-t=an

Libx force rHO

force

Pco-

Uon

force. Hot In

force

Pop-

pen

Labor forceHotly

foraHum-bee

P-ercsist ofpopulation

Hum-by

recant ofpopulation

Num-bit

Porcent_cfpupation

enronys s regular s.thool

acnenary or utin S.,nsupl.. ..... ... ...... .

isileie -Fell -6^ePan ome.

Ustrovatufte . . ... ... .. .... .......Sansone .. . ..... . .. .. .

F5 to 39 years . ..5 ts 44 years5 ydrs and oyer..1 .. a:

1.103

231.320

209111

7352E5

425216329

373

53220105715-574AS

339227337

79 4

66 3IV 463 2SE 2

78 I26 3

. 79179478 9'

227 -

27203la95 i

16159

5982

501

30474105368

122152

127131145

443

21eV64

351

223ni198118127

89 7

(i)89 0see97 3

89 41:3 8

87 393187 0

61

.9524210

3418

291319

55

50546103443

413133

Int155243

433

32ISO42

35.US112

III110179

72.1

(1)7L940 1

- /0.4

69 2be 2.

71 271073 7

166

11141-

61V

12721

.

51445

64

Percern oct sbincwhere base n less than 75,003

force may have been able to take advantage ofemployer-sponsored eduiation or to pay for s600lin-gfrom their earnings. .

A larger proportion of white than black studentsage 35 and miaer were enrolled in college in October1974.z In 1972, the pelcentages were about the same.

tWer this period, the proportion of white Studentsin ,:olleg increased, addthat in AocationaLschool%*declined, the proportions of black ` students lit eachof these types of schools were about the same in.bothyears.

. .

Elementary and secontiary school enrollment

More than half of the 80,000 older adutt s--enrolledin eleihentary .or high school were 4 years of age.or over, and 6 out of 10 were women. The labor-.

t force rate for 'the -Whole group1-66 -Pircentiias" about as. that for all persons age 35 to 64,

with comparable educatioiial attainment. .,

Some of these persons returned to school becausethey; believed. that more education was reqUired onthe job fir to qualify for a better job. qthers, wentto school mainly for personal satisfaction.1Numeri-cally, The wog, was split nearly evenly.' betweenblacks and whites, 'so the proportign of all olderstudents ehrolled ,pt these levels was substantially.higher for blacks. -,

Vocktional 'schOol enrollmentf

About a quarter of tl* older reisbns in school in0*tober1974 were attending a 'postsecondary trade

1.

rR

.

or vocational school. The number and proportion ofolder students in this kind of school have droppedsince 1972; as. they have for younger persons. CourseOfferings` at cornet pity colleges similar to thoseoffered by private technical schools may be availableat lower"--Cost.

All of th$ shift away from vocational schools was,among whit& students. The decrease took place pri-

"marily" among persons at the lower end of the agegroup- -those 35 to 39 years oldand this change -widened the age difference between-vocational schoolstudents and those enrolled in regular schools. As aresult, more than half of the vocational school stu-dents compared with a third of the .regular schoolstudents in the ge group were 45 yeetrs of -age orolder in 1974, .

FOOTNOTES_

This summiry is based on supplementary questions anthe October 1974 Current Population Survey, conducted andtabulated for the Bureau of4Labor Statistics by the Btireauof the Cznsus. Data presented in this report relate to persons

'35 years of age and aver in the civilian nopinstitutionalpopulation- in the calendar week ending Oct. 12,,1974.

Since the estimates are based on a sample, they may differfrom the figures that would have been obtained ,from -acomplete census, Sampling variability may be relativelylarge i,v cases where the numbers are small. Small estimates;or small differences between estimates; should be intefigeted

;with caution.This summary will be reprinted as a special labor force-

report and will be hvailable upon request to the Bureau G'lc) any of,its regional offices. An earlier report, on the Samesubject was Anne M. Young, J`Going back to school at 35,"

6

.-

4 -

50

4.A

,

MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW, DECEMBER 1975

Monthly Labor Rotew. October 1973, pp 39-42. reprintedas Special Labor Force Report 159.

Digest or Educational Statist:es. 1974 (Department ofHealth. Education, and Welfare. National tenter-for Educa-tion- Statistics, 1975). table 89. p 76 and;table 7, p 10.

Includes some people enrolled 6n el mentary schoolprograms.

.

r.

Datafor all' persons. other than white arc, uscirin thisreport to represent data for blacks. who_sonstitute aVout 89percent of ;1r persons other than white in the United States.

'Regular school is one which may advance i person to-ward an elementary of high school diploma or a college,-University, or professional school degree. Attendance may beon either a full-time or part-time basis during the day ornight.

t

1

1

Up! natory Note

']?EE ESTIMATES in thig7repqt are based on supplementary questioris.in the October'1974 Current Population Survey conducted and tabu-.lated fOr the Bureau Of Obor Statisticsby'the Bureau of the s.

Census. Th baSic labor force poncepts, Sample design, esma-tingmethods, and reliab4lity of the data are described brieflyin the following sectios. 1/

.

DEE,INITIONS AND EXPLANOIONS.

.. i

,

Poptlation .Coverage. Each month trained interviewers collecttinformation from's: saMple orabout 47,000 households located in461 areas in 923 counties and independent cities,, with.coveragein 50 States and the/District of Columbia. The estimates forthis report include',#ersons 35 years of age and over in thecivilian noninstitutional population'in the calendar week endirigOctober 12, 1974. he civilian noninstitutional-populationexclvdes all member of the Armed.Forces and inmates of instif:u-tiong. ( ,

c

, _

School Enrollment The school enrollment statistics are basedon replies to the enumerator's inquiry as to whether the personwas enrolled in s hdOl. Enumerators are instructed to count asenrolled anyone o had been enrolled during the current termor school year i day oar hight,school in any type of public,.parochial, or of er private school ,in the regular school system.Such schools in lude elementary schools, junior or senior high.schools, and co leges or universities: 'Persons enrolled inshools not in he regular school system,.sgch as trade schoolsor business co leges, are classified as enrolled in "Spacialschools." Per ons enrolled in classes which do not requirephysical prese ce iv.1,sdhool, such ascorrespondence, courses orother courses of independent study and troUping courses - given

' directly on t e job, are hot reported as enrolled in a school.

Full-Time and Part -Time Enrollment in Colle A person 'isclassified a- enrolled in college full time if he was taking12 hours of lasses or more during,an average,schodl. week, and r.part time if he was taking feiaer hours. -

. %

Age. The a e classification is based on the age of the personat his' last 'birthday.

Rade. The opulation is divided into three groups on'the basis'toe race: i ite, and'other." The last category includesAmerican I dians, Japanese, Chinese, and any other race exceptwhite and lack.

A-10

7

.-- /. ,-.

Marital itatus. Women are-classified three' categories'according'to their Marital 'status time the interview:/l'alSingle; married;_ husband presen_ other marital status, A

.

Woman is alassified as ':married, usband present" if her husband,was reported as a meMber of the-household even though he may 4have been tepporarily absent on business, vacation, on a-Visit,or in a hospital, and the like at the time of the interview.The-"term "Other marital status" applies.to women wha are-

. married with husband absent,' widowed, or divorced,

Employed,. Employed persons are`all those who, during .the ,surveyweek, (a)_did any work at all as paid employees,or in their. ownl%business or professiohy'or on their own farm, pr'who workedhodts or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by.a' j_Member of ,the family, or- (b) did not work but had jobs. or busi-.tresses from which they were temporarily absent because of ill, ,

ness, bad weather, vacation,.labor-management 'dispute, or forpersonal reasons, whether or not they were,paid,by their employ-ers for the time off, and whether or not they were seeking other',jobs.

'UneMployed. Unemployed' pers.ons are all those who did not workduring the survey week, mad'specific efforts to find .a jobwithin the preceding 4 weekq, and were" available for work or,would have geen available during the survey meek except fortemporary illness. Also included as unemployed are those whodid not work at all, were available for work, and (a) were.wait-ing to be called back to a job from which they, had been laid off,or (b) were waitkeig to report to a new wage or salary job within30 days. -

,

Civilian Labd'r Force. The civilian labor force comprises thetotal of all ciVilian'p6tsons classified as employed or-unem-ployed according,t(5-the above definitions. ,,

Thliot-in the Civiliaff Labor Force. All, persons not classified asemployed 'of unemployed are-defined as not In labor'. force. Per-

, sons doing only-lnoidental,unpaid family work (less than 15hours a week) are alsO classified-as not in the labor force.

_. -->

.7-' ,.. .."

Sums of(PiStribution. Sums of individual items, whether absoliate numbers or percentages, may ,,, equal totals because ofindeNndent rounding of totals and components. Percentage. .

totals, hoilever,, are always .shown as 100 percent.,----:--- --

0

0 0

0.

*A-2

44

RELIAEIlaTY'OF THE g44ImATgs

'Estimating Procedure, !The estimaqng procedure used in:thissurvey inflateS'weigfjted sample:reults.to independent esti-mates of civilian noninstitticional population by age, race/andSex. These independent estimates are based on statistics fromthe 1970 Census of Population and other data on births, deaths.,immigration, and,emigration, and strength of the Armed Forces.

(Variabifity. 'Since the estimates are based on a sample, theymay differ somewhat from the figures that would havt beenobtained -if a complete census had'been_taken using the sameschedules, and ptpcedures. As in any survey, the results are 1

also subject to errors of response and reporting.. These may berelatiVely lcarge in the case of persons with irregular attadh-Mentto the labor fOrce. Particular cake-should be exercised inthe interpretation of figures based on relatively small estimates,as well as small differences between figures.

The standard- .error is primarily a measure of sampling vari-.ability; that is, of the variations that might occur by chancebecause only a sample rather than the entire population is sur-veyed. As calculated for this report, the standard.error alsoioartially measures the effect of responseand enumeration errorsbut does. not measure any systematic biases in. the data. The ,'

chances are about 2 out of 3 that an estimate from the'samplewould, differ from a'complete census by less than the standard

. .error. The chances are about 19 out of 20 that the differencewould be less than'twicte,tbe Standard error.

_Tables I and 2 show approximations of the standatd errorsin this survey. They should be interpreted as indicators ofthe order of magnitude of the standard error rather ;Ilan aprecise standard error for/any-specific: item.

The following example's illustrate their use. Among the86,205,000 persons 35 yeas of age and over in the Civiliannonifistitutional populati riin October 1974, 1,502,000 wereenrolled in school. Tab e 1 show's the standard vror on thisestimate to be about 55, 00. The chances are about 2 out.of3 that the estimate wou d have been &.figure differing fronta complete census figur by less-than 55,000. The chancesare about 19 out of 20 /that the estimate would have differedby less than 110,000. /

/

A3

/

4'

The 1,154,00) ,persons, 35 years of age and over\enrollea!'in schoOl who -were in the labor force in October 1974 repre- ,

tented 76:8 perpent of the.,1,502,000 persont en4olle4 in-school. Table 2 shows the standard error of 76.8 percentwith'a base -of l,02,000 .to be about 1.7 percentage oints. __,:..!'/Contequently, the chances are 2 ovr of 3 that a completecensus Would have disclosed the figure to be between .75.1and 78'.5 percent, and 19 out of 20 that the figure would

.

have, been between 73.4 and 80.2 percent.--,

i '''a iThe-reliability of an estimated percentage that t 4.

based on sample data for both numerator and.denominatordepends upon the size of the percentage and 'the size of the'total upon which the percentage is based. Estimated per-centages are relatiVely more%reliable than the correspohdingabsolute estimates of the numerators of the percentage,Jpar .

ticularly if the percentage is.large (50 percent or greater).

c \

.., k-1 .1/ For a MoretodMplete description of the methodology, see..

.

-Concepts and Methods Uted in Manpower Statistics from the CurrentPopulation Survey (BLS Report No. 313).

11.

,

I

0

Table].---StanClarOT.errors of estimated number of 'person's

.

'"

Total population

,

(68 chances gut of

Estimated number ,

,Total persons in

of persons

100

250

500

1,000

10

'

30

50

.100

300

500

1,000

:2,000

,3,000

5,006

o10

;000

20,000

30,000

f.i

40,000

A

Table 2.

Standard errors

41.4

6.9

7.5 0

4.5

7.6

9.5

11.6 0

-

4.5

--77.7

9.8

13.4

t'

16

0

4.5-

7.8

10.0

13.9

22 24

,v

of estimated Percentages,

100)

age, sex group (thousands)

2,500

5,000

10,000.

,25,000

50,000.

4.5

4.5

*4.5

4.5

7.8,

7.8

,7.8

7.8

7.8

10.1

10.1

10.1

10.

10.1

14.1

14.2

14.3-

14.3

14.3

24.

24

25<-

25 '

25

30

032

'

32

532

37

42

41

45

45

30,

52

60

ti63

64

052

69

76-

77

75-

95

98

0116

134'

'

95.

164

164

134

Total population

(6? chances out of 100)

Estimated

Base of percentage (thousands)

.percentage,

175

250

500

1,000

2,500

5,000

10,000

25,000

50,000

Tor 99

0.9

0.6'

0.5

0.

0.2

0.1

s0:1

0.1

2 or 98

2.3,,

1.3

.9

.6

.4

.3

.2

,1

5 or 95-

3.6

2.0

1.4

1.0

.4

.3

.2

10 or 90

5.tO

2.7'

1.9.

, 1.4

.6

.3

5 or',"85

,5-9

.3.2

2.3

1.6

.7

.5

.3

.2

20 or 80

25 or 75

6.6 W

7:2

3.d

3.9

2.6

2.8

1.8

2.0

1t2

.8

.9

.6 -6

4.4

14

+;3

35 Or 65

7.9

4.3

3.1

2.2

1.0

.7

-.3

50

8.3

4.5

3.2

2.3

1.4

\1.0

.7

:5

.3