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Digest of Education Statistics
2005 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Issue of the Digest


Table 353. Participation of employed persons, 17 years old and over, in career-related adult education during the previous 12 months, by selected characteristics of participants: 1995, 1999, and 2003
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                      |        1995       |               1999               |                             2003
                                      |___________________|__________________________________|____________________________________________________________________
                                      |  Percent|   Number|     Percent of adults |          |        |                                    |          |
                                      |of adults|of career|       participating   |    Number|        |    Percent of adults participating |    Number|
                                      | partici-|  or job-|_______________________| of career|        |____________________________________| of career|  Number of
                                      |pating in|  related|            |          |   or job-|        |            |          |     In less|   or job-|  career or
                                      |   career|  courses|   In career|          |   related|Employed|            |          |      formal|   related|job-related
                                      |  or job-|   taken,|     or job-|        In|   courses|persons,|In career or|       In |work-related|   courses|    courses
                                      |  related|      per|     related|apprentice|taken, per|in thou-| job-related|apprentice|    learning| taken, in| taken, per
Characteristic of employed persons    |  courses| employee|     courses|  programs|  employee|   sands|  courses\2\|  programs|  activities| thousands|employee\1\
______________________________________|_________|_________|____________|__________|__________|________|____________|__________|____________|__________|___________
1                                     |        2|        3|           4|         5|         6|       7|           8|         9|          10|        11|         12
______________________________________|_________|_________|____________|__________|__________|________|____________|__________|____________|__________|___________
     Total ...........................|     31.1|      0.8| 30.5 (1.14)| 2.2(0.41)|0.7 (0.03)| 130,025| 46.0 (0.70)| 1.1(0.14)| 76.5 (0.70)|   119,948|  0.9(0.02)
                                      |_________|_________|____________|__________|__________|________|____________|__________|____________|__________|___________
Sex                                   |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
  Males ..............................|     29.0|      0.7| 28.3 (1.15)| 3.0(0.45)|0.6 (0.03)|  67,453| 42.7 (1.15)| 1.6(0.26)| 76.1 (0.94)|    54,870| 0.8 (0.03)
  Females ............................|     33.4|      0.9| 32.9 (1.14)| 1.4(0.32)|0.8 (0.03)|  62,572| 49.4 (0.99)| 0.6(0.11)| 76.9 (1.05)|    65,078| 1.0 (0.03)
                                      |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
Age                                   |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
  17 to 24 years .....................|     18.6|      0.4| 19.1 (1.91)| 4.4(1.41)|0.4 (0.06)|  16,113| 33.9 (2.31)| 2.6(0.72)| 83.2 (1.51)|     8,777| 0.5 (0.06)
  25 to 29 years .....................|     31.2|      0.8| 34.3 (2.44)| 3.7(0.93)|0.8 (0.08)|  14,393| 49.7 (2.62)| 2.4(0.74)| 82.2 (2.44)|    13,059| 0.9 (0.05)
  30 to 34 years .....................|     31.6|      0.8| 34.4 (2.50)| 2.9(0.82)|0.8 (0.08)|  13,691| 48.4 (2.50)| 1.6(0.47)| 76.6 (2.20)|    12,823| 0.9 (0.06)
  35 to 39 years .....................|     35.1|      0.9| 29.2 (2.15)| 1.6(0.52)|0.7 (0.07)|  16,281| 48.8 (2.32)| 0.5(0.23)| 74.9 (1.98)|    15,841| 1.0 (0.06)
  40 to 44 years .....................|     36.6|      0.9| 36.4 (2.44)| 1.5(0.60)|0.8 (0.07)|  19,794| 46.1 (2.23)| 0.9(0.32)| 77.3 (1.97)|    18,055| 0.9 (0.06)
  45 to 49 years .....................|     39.6|      1.0| 30.4 (2.42)| 1.8(0.75)|0.7 (0.06)|  17,030| 50.8 (2.15)| 0.3(0.11)| 74.9 (2.58)|    18,360| 1.1 (0.06)
  50 to 54 years .....................|     34.4|      0.9| 34.7 (2.57)| 1.3(0.54)|0.8 (0.07)|  13,296| 52.5 (2.21)| 0.6(0.23)| 77.6 (2.04)|    16,305| 1.2 (0.08)
  55 to 59 years .....................|     26.7|      0.7| 30.3 (2.83)| 0.8(0.56)|0.6 (0.08)|   9,884| 46.3 (2.49)| 0.4(0.19)| 72.0 (2.42)|     9,990| 1.0 (0.06)
  60 to 64 years .....................|     21.1|      0.5| 27.2 (3.80)| 0.8(0.82)|0.7 (0.15)|   5,318| 37.8 (2.63)| 0.1(0.09)| 64.1 (3.07)|     4,198| 0.8 (0.08)
  65 and over ........................|     13.7|      0.4| 20.3 (4.21)| 0.2(0.25)|0.4 (0.08)|   4,226| ---    (†) |---   (†) | ---    (†) |     2,541|---    (†)
    65 to 69 years ...................|     --- |     --- | ---    (†) |---   (†) |---   (†) |   2,379| 33.5 (3.42)| 0.6(0.57)| 66.3 (3.73)|     1,679| 0.7 (0.08)
    70 years and over ................|     --- |     --- | ---    (†) |---   (†) |---   (†) |   1,847| 22.3 (3.35)|  #   (†) | 55.8 (5.53)|       862| 0.5 (0.09)
                                      |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
Racial/ethnic group                   |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
  White, non-Hispanic ................|     33.2|      0.8| 32.8 (0.98)| 1.7(0.25)|0.6 (0.03)|  94,603| 48.5 (0.85)| 1.1(0.18)| 78.5 (0.77)|    92,576| 1.0 (0.02)
  Black, non-Hispanic ................|     26.2|      0.7| 28.1 (2.34)| 4.1(1.27)|1.0 (0.07)|  13,513| 43.4 (2.19)| 0.8(0.31)| 75.2 (1.98)|    12,385| 0.9 (0.06)
  Hispanic ...........................|     18.1|      0.4| 16.4 (1.83)| 4.3(1.45)|0.5 (0.05)|  15,694| 31.8 (2.32)| 1.1(0.31)| 66.3 (2.69)|     9,356| 0.6 (0.06)
  Asian/Pacific Islander .............|     25.5|      0.6| 32.8 (4.84)|  #   (†) |0.4 (0.15)|   4,056| 50.4 (4.77)| 0.6(0.51)| 78.1 (4.89)|     3,393| 0.8 (0.09)
  American Indian/Alaska Native ......|     34.0|      0.9| 29.5(11.52)| 6.8(5.57)|0.7 (0.52)|     760| 40.0(15.14)| 3.1(3.28)| 55.0(17.49)|       498| 0.7 (0.25)
                                      |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
Highest level of education            |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
   completed                          |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
  Less than high school completion ...|      8.8|      0.1|  7.9 (2.29)| 2.5(1.66)|0.4 (0.05)|  15,070| ---    (†) |---   (†) | ---    (†) |     3,000|---    (†)
    Eighth grade or less .............|     --- |     --- | ---    (†) |---   (†) |---   (†) |   4,753|  9.9 (3.11)| 0.2(0.19)| 49.4 (5.57)|       668| 0.1 (0.05)
    9th to 12th grade, no completion .|     --- |     --- | ---    (†) |---   (†) |---   (†) |  10,318| 16.3 (2.32)| 1.7(1.00)| 56.2 (3.97)|     2,332| 0.2 (0.04)
  High school completion .............|     20.9|      0.4| 21.4 (1.45)| 2.4(0.59)|0.8 (0.03)|  34,412| 33.2 (1.39)| 1.0(0.23)| 68.7 (1.79)|    19,407| 0.6 (0.03)
  Some vocational/technical ..........|     32.3|      0.8| 28.7 (5.76)| 5.1(3.23)|0.9 (0.17)|   4,372| 41.7 (3.26)| 3.9(1.40)| 83.2 (2.39)|     4,299| 1.0 (0.11)
  Some college .......................|     29.9|      0.7| 29.0 (1.78)| 3.0(0.71)|0.7 (0.06)|  26,448| 45.6 (1.83)| 1.7(0.45)| 78.4 (1.42)|    23,294| 0.9 (0.05)
  Associate's degree .................|     39.2|      1.0| 39.7 (3.07)| 2.6(0.90)|0.9 (0.09)|   8,851| 54.5 (2.74)| 1.1(0.41)| 82.3 (2.09)|     9,966| 1.1 (0.07)
  Bachelor's degree ..................|     44.6|      1.2| 43.8 (2.01)| 1.0(0.31)|1.0 (0.06)|  24,024| 64.2 (1.42)| 0.4(0.13)| 86.6 (1.35)|    31,875| 1.3 (0.05)
  Some graduate work (or study) ......|     50.2|      1.4| 46.8 (4.17)| 1.4(1.02)|1.2 (0.14)|  16,849| 71.5 (1.87)| 0.5(0.20)| 90.2 (1.08)|    28,107| 1.7 (0.07)
    No degree ........................|     44.3|      1.2| 54.2 (4.94)| 0.9(0.65)|1.2 (0.14)|   2,466| 68.3 (4.90)| 0.1(0.12)| 86.7 (2.76)|     3,984| 1.6 (0.15)
    Master's .........................|     50.5|      1.4| 45.3 (2.97)| 0.9(0.45)|1.1 (0.11)|   9,834| 73.4 (2.44)| 0.7(0.34)| 92.7 (1.05)|    17,108| 1.7 (0.09)
    Doctor's .........................|     40.4|      1.0| 34.4 (4.79)| 3.2(1.45)|0.7 (0.12)|   1,727| 58.9 (6.15)|  #   (†) | 84.3 (5.91)|     2,457| 1.4 (0.25)
    Professional .....................|     67.6|      2.0| 67.6 (6.98)| 1.4(1.42)|1.9 (0.31)|   2,822| 75.3 (4.63)| 0.5(0.34)| 88.2 (4.01)|     4,558| 1.6 (0.16)
                                      |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          | 
Urbanicity                            |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
  Urban ..............................|     32.4|      0.8| 31.5 (1.67)| 2.3(0.49)|0.7 (0.05)| 103,185| 48.0 (0.75)| 1.1(0.15)| 78.1 (0.72)|    99,576| 1.0 (0.02)
    Urban, inside urbanized area .....|     33.3|      0.8| 31.2 (0.99)| 2.4(0.35)|0.7 (0.03)|  88,626| 47.7 (0.88)| 1.2(0.17)| 78.3 (0.78)|    85,210| 1.0 (0.02)
    Urban, outside urbanized area ....|     27.9|      0.7| 32.9 (2.48)| 1.8(0.64)|0.8 (0.08)|  14,559| 49.5 (2.19)| 0.6(0.24)| 77.0 (2.21)|    14,366| 1.0 (0.06)
  Rural ..............................|     26.9|      0.7| 27.1 (1.74)| 2.0(0.65)|0.6 (0.05)|  26,841| 38.2 (2.08)| 1.2(0.42)| 70.1 (2.03)|    20,373| 0.8 (0.05)
                                      |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
Occupation                            |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
  Executive, administrative,          |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
     or managerial ...................|     42.9|      1.2| 40.6 (2.06)| 1.2(0.41)|1.0 (0.07)|  15,613| 61.7 (2.13)| 0.6(0.31)| 85.9 (1.83)|    20,867| 1.3 (0.06)
  Engineers, surveyors, and           |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
     architects ......................|     44.2|      1.1| 52.1 (6.96)| 6.0(4.34)|1.0 (0.16)|   2,376| 66.8 (4.60)| 1.4(1.01)| 92.0 (2.49)|     3,046| 1.3 (0.13)
  Natural scientists and              |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
     mathematicians ..................|     59.7|      1.7| 46.0 (6.61)| 1.4(0.90)|0.8 (0.14)|   2,405| 60.7 (5.89)|  #   (†) | 93.4 (2.05)|     2,894| 1.2 (0.13)
  Social scientists and workers,      |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
     lawyers .........................|     59.5|      1.8| 56.9 (5.66)| 0.7(0.65)|1.7 (0.24)|   2,875| 77.7 (3.90)| 0.8(0.81)| 87.5 (3.02)|     5,518| 1.9 (0.15)
  Teachers, elementary/secondary .....|     53.9|      1.5| 52.1 (3.53)| 0.4(0.24)|1.2 (0.11)|   7,102| 76.5 (2.43)| 0.2(0.10)| 88.7 (1.53)|    12,734| 1.5 (0.19)
  Teachers, postsecondary ............|     41.6|      1.0| 35.6 (5.85)| 2.1(1.30)|0.7 (0.14)|   1,731| 65.7 (5.63)| 0.6(0.48)| 94.4 (2.28)|     2,543| 1.8 (0.09)
  Physicians, dentists,               |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
     veterinarians ...................|     68.6|      2.0| 65.2(11.99)| 4.5(4.50)|1.5 (0.50)|   1,049| 88.5 (4.11)|  #   (†) | 96.1 (2.15)|     2,093| 2.0 (0.24)
  Registered nurses, pharmacists .....|     72.8|      2.2| 72.2 (5.04)| 0.2(0.17)|1.8 (0.21)|   3,309| 84.9 (2.80)| 0.3(0.33)| 90.2 (3.12)|     6,229| 1.9 (0.11)
  Writers, artists, entertainers,     |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
     and athletes ....................|     23.4|      0.5| 30.6 (6.21)| 2.5(1.34)|0.6 (0.18)|   2,820| 35.1 (4.84)| 0.4(0.30)| 69.4 (5.20)|     1,729| 0.6 (0.11)
  Health technologists and            |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
     technicians .....................|     50.0|      1.4| 41.8 (6.00)| 5.2(3.48)|1.0 (0.19)|   2,581| 59.4 (6.12)| 1.7(1.06)| 84.6 (4.18)|     3,728| 1.4 (0.21)
  Technologists, except health .......|     43.8|      1.1| 37.6 (4.87)| 4.0(2.84)|1.0 (0.15)|   5,371| 51.9 (3.47)| 1.8(0.72)| 84.4 (2.84)|     6,251| 1.2 (0.14)
  Marketing and sales occupations ....|     25.2|      0.6| 21.1 (2.27)| 1.7(0.73)|0.4 (0.06)|  15,258| 38.7 (2.36)| 0.2(0.10)| 79.0 (2.39)|     9,759| 0.6 (0.05)
  Administrative support,             |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
     including clerical ..............|     30.8|      0.7| 27.4 (2.02)| 0.9(0.32)|0.6 (0.05)|  19,535| 45.1 (2.20)| 0.4(0.19)| 74.2 (2.29)|    15,201| 0.8 (0.04)
  Service occupations ................|     22.6|      0.6| 21.0 (2.15)| 2.3(0.71)|0.5 (0.07)|  17,838| 37.2 (2.04)| 1.0(0.25)| 66.8 (1.98)|    13,773| 0.8 (0.06)
  Agriculture, forestry, and          |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
     fishing .........................|     12.4|      0.3| 12.2 (4.09)| 6.9(6.56)|0.2 (0.07)|   2,232| 33.9 (6.19)| 1.6(1.40)| 62.0 (6.22)|     1,172| 0.5 (0.09)
  Mechanics and repairers ............|     29.1|      0.7| 15.0 (3.40)| 6.1(2.26)|0.3 (0.09)|   4,212| 32.1 (3.84)| 3.6(1.32)| 81.0 (3.19)|     2,819| 0.7 (0.11)
  Construction and extractive         |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
     occupations .....................|     18.6|      0.3| 13.2 (3.16)| 6.0(2.41)|0.2 (0.06)|   6,470| 22.1 (2.87)| 4.7(1.72)| 65.9 (4.43)|     2,287| 0.4 (0.06)
  Precision production ...............|     25.6|      0.6| 18.3 (6.52)|11.9(5.25)|0.4 (0.12)|   1,702| 22.5 (6.15)| 6.6(5.84)| 70.5 (9.38)|       760| 0.5 (0.13)
  Production workers .................|     14.8|      0.3| 23.0 (3.17)| 2.4(1.18)|0.5 (0.08)|   8,044| 27.6 (3.04)| 1.9(0.66)| 63.6 (3.27)|     3,843| 0.5 (0.07)
  Transportation, material moving ....|     15.8|      0.3| 18.4 (3.62)| 1.6(0.95)|0.3 (0.06)|   4,657| 25.8 (3.39)| 0.5(0.28)| 59.5 (4.27)|     1,721| 0.4 (0.05)
  Handler, equipment, cleaners,       |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
     helpers, and laborers ...........|     11.7|      0.2|  6.8 (3.45)| 1.7(1.35)|0.2 (0.12)|   2,711| 15.9 (4.27)| 1.4(1.06)| 63.5 (7.07)|       784| 0.3 (0.11)
  Miscellaneous occupations ..........|     38.8|      1.0| 14.2 (4.62)| 3.7(2.33)|0.3 (0.08)|     133| 63.0(21.53)|  #   (†) | 96.9 (3.35)|       198| 1.5 (0.61)
                                      |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
Annual household income               |         |         |            |          |          |        |            |          |            |          |
  $10,000 or less ....................|     12.6|      0.2|  9.5 (3.09)| 1.9(1.54)|0.2 (0.05)|   4,812| ---    (†) |---   (†) | ---    (†) |     1,408|---    (†)
    $5,000 or less ...................|     --- |     --- | ---    (†) |---   (†) |---   (†) |   1,829| 19.4 (4.50)| 1.8(1.26)| 70.9 (5.79)|       570| 0.3 (0.09)
    $5,001 to $10,000 ................|     --- |     --- | ---    (†) |---   (†) |---   (†) |   2,983| 17.5 (2.85)| 0.4(0.28)| 61.6 (5.77)|       838| 0.3 (0.04)
  $10,001 to $15,000 .................|     15.1|      0.4|  8.3 (1.88)| 2.5(1.69)|0.1 (0.03)|   5,718| 20.1 (3.00)| 0.2(0.18)| 70.4 (3.46)|     1,679| 0.3 (0.05)
  $15,001 to $20,000 .................|     20.1|      0.4| 16.3 (2.75)| 1.9(0.94)|0.3 (0.05)|   5,160| 22.7 (3.44)| 1.1(0.39)| 61.7 (6.96)|     1,937| 0.4 (0.07)
  $20,001 to $25,000 .................|     20.4|      0.5| 18.8 (2.79)| 4.4(2.12)|0.4 (0.08)|   6,373| 29.4 (2.73)| 0.9(0.53)| 64.1 (3.38)|     3,402| 0.5 (0.07)
  $25,001 to $30,000 .................|     24.7|      0.5| 22.2 (2.73)| 2.7(1.24)|0.5 (0.07)|   7,165| 27.7 (2.60)| 0.7(0.29)| 70.5 (3.18)|     3,721| 0.5 (0.07)
  $30,001 to $40,000 .................|     30.2|      0.8| 26.6 (2.82)| 2.3(0.95)|0.6 (0.07)|  15,835| 40.4 (2.43)| 1.2(0.37)| 71.9 (2.34)|    12,740| 0.8 (0.06)
  $40,001 to $50,000 .................|     34.7|      0.8| 32.3 (2.34)| 2.6(0.76)|0.7 (0.07)|  12,653| 47.9 (2.50)| 1.4(0.42)| 76.9 (2.00)|    11,985| 1.0 (0.07)
  $50,001 to $75,000 .................|     40.0|      1.0| 36.6 (1.86)| 2.5(0.59)|0.9 (0.06)|  31,465| 49.3 (1.57)| 1.7(0.38)| 75.9 (1.39)|    31,471| 1.0 (0.04)
  More than $75,000 ..................|     45.2|      1.3| 42.5 (1.79)| 1.2(0.33)|1.0 (0.06)|  40,844| 60.5 (1.36)| 0.8(0.28)| 85.5 (1.05)|    51,604| 1.3 (0.04)
______________________________________|_________|_________|____________|__________|__________|________|____________|__________|____________|__________|___________
---Not available.
†Not applicable.
#Rounds to zero.
\1\Estimates are not directly comparable to 1995 and 1999 due to wording in questions.
NOTE: Data do not include persons enrolled in high school or below. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Race/ethnicity categories may not sum to totals because they do not include an "other" race/ethnicity category. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Adult Education Survey (AE-NHES:1995 and AE-NHES:1999) and Adult Education for Work-Related Reasons Survey (AEWR-NHES:2003) of the National Household Education Surveys Program. (This table was prepared April 2005.)


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