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E. Newburger/A. Curry
301-457-2464

                      High School Completions at All-Time High,
                                Census Bureau Reports

  More than four-fifths (83.4 percent) of all adults age 25 or older in  
March 1999 had at least a high school diploma, a record high, and 1 in 4 adults
had attained at least a bachelor's degree, according to a report released today
by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.

  In 1998, 82.8 percent of adults age 25 and older had completed high school
or more and 24.4 percent had obtained a bachelor's degree.

  The new estimates were developed from data collected in the March 1999 Current
Population Survey, which uses the 1990 census as its base for the survey's 
sample. The estimates should not be confused with Census 2000 results.
Census 2000 data on educational attainment will not be released until 2002.

  "Given the very large differences in education between younger and older age
groups, the attainment level of the total population will continue to rise for
some time, as younger, more educated age groups replace older, less educated
ones," said Eric Newburger, co-author of the report.

  Among young adults ages 25 to 29, almost 9 in 10 (88 percent) had completed
high school in 1999, which statistically was not different from the rates 
recorded in 1998 and 1997 a sign that the increase in young adults' educational
attainment may be leveling off.

  In addition, during the past two decades, the proportion of the young adult
population with a bachelor's degree changed only modestly, reaching 28 percent
in 1999.

  The report, Educational Attainment in the United States: March 1999, P20-528,
has these other highlights:

- Adults age 18 and over with a bachelor's degree earned an average of $43,782,
  while those with only a high school diploma earned $23,594.
     
- About 88 percent of Whites age 25 and over had completed high school. The rate
  was 85 percent for Asian and Pacific Islanders, 77 percent for African Americans
  and 56 percent for Hispanics. (Data by race excluded people of Hispanic origin,
  who may be of any race.)

- For young adults ages 25 to 29, the high school completion gap between
  African Americans and Whites was 4 percentage points (93 percent for Whites
  compared with 89 percent for African Americans). This percentage point
  difference did not change significantly from 1989.
  
- Among those ages 25 to 29, almost 90 percent of women and 86 percent of men
  had high school diplomas in 1999. In addition, more young women had attained 
  bachelor's degrees (30 percent) than did young men (27 percent). 

  Statistics from surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.


     
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Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Public Information Office
(301) 763-3030

Last Revised: March 14, 2001 at 08:54:16 AM