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Mike Bergman                                                  CB03-51
Public Information Office
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e-mail: pio@census.gov                               Quotes and sound bites
                                
                  Women Edge Men in High School
               Diplomas, Breaking 13-Year Deadlock
                                
  The high school graduation rate for women age 25 and over (84.4 percent)
exceeded that of men (83.8 percent) in 2002, the first statistical
difference between the two sexes since 1989, the Commerce Department's
Census Bureau said today.

  According to new tables released on the Internet, titled Educational
Attainment in the United States: March 2001 and March 2002, more than
one-quarter (27 percent) of adults age 25 and older had at least a
bachelor's degree in 2002, about 1 percentage point higher than the
previous year. The jump in the percentage of college graduates resulted
from significant increases for women, non-Hispanic whites and
African-Americans.

  About 3-in-10 young adults, ages 25 to 29 in 2002, had completed a
bachelor's degree, matching the 2000 record high. (See attached table.)

  Adults age 18 and over with a bachelor's degree earned an average of
$50,623 a year in 2001, while those with a high school diploma earned
$26,795 and those without a high school diploma averaged $18,793. Advanced
degree-holders made an average of $72,869 in 2001.

  Other highlights for the population 25 years and over in March 2002:
  
Asians and Pacific Islanders had the highest proportion of college
graduates (47 percent), followed by non-Hispanic whites (29 percent), 
African-Americans (17 percent) and Hispanics (11 percent).
 
The proportion of Hispanics born in the United States who had a 
bachelor's degree or more (14 percent) was higher than that of those 
born outside the country (9 percent). For Asians and Pacific islanders, 
the corresponding rates were much closer: 44 percent and 48 percent, 
respectively.
    
Ninety percent of the employed civilian labor force age 25 and over had 
a high school diploma and 32 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher.

     
The Northeast region had the highest proportion of college graduates 
(29 percent), followed by the West (28 percent). The proportions of college 
graduates in the Midwest (26 percent) and the South (25 percent) were not 
statistically different.

  The data on educational trends and attainment levels are shown by
characteristics such as age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status,
occupation, industry, nativity and, if foreign-born, when they entered the
country, as well as metropolitan and nonmetropolitan residence. The tables
also look at topics such as the relationship between earnings and
educational attainment. Although the statistics are primarily at the
national level, some data are shown for regions, states and large
metropolitan areas.

  The data were collected in the Annual Demographic Supplement to the
March 2002 Current Population Survey (CPS). As in all surveys, the CPS
data are subject to sampling variability and other sources of error.

Table A.
Summary Measures of Educational Attainment of the U.S. Population: March 2002
(Numbers in thousands)

Note: Hispanics may be of any race.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, March 2002.