because of a greater need of finances for their education and because many are married. Of the older students, 37 percent were in the labor force in October-39 percent of the men and 32 percent of the women.

The pursuit of a full-time college education appears to limit the ability of some students to work while school is in session. Precollege students 18 and 19 years of age in October 1960 were twice as likely to be in the labor force as full-time college students of the same age, and the same proportions (29 percent) of 16- and 17-year-old high school students and full-time college students 20 and 21 years of age were in the labor force. (See table 4.) A contributing factor to the rela

tively high participation rate for precollege students may be the fact that a sizable proportion of them were employed in agriculture, where working hours can be more readily adjusted to school schedules than can hours of college students, almost all of whom work in nonagricultural industries. Among students attending college part time, 9 out of 10 were in the labor force. These students are primarily full-time wage earners who attend school only a few hours a week.

Married men 18 to 24 years of age who attend college are more likely to be in the labor market than the average male college student. Twothirds of the married students in that age group were in the labor force in October compared with less than two-fifths of all college men. Two factors are primarily responsible for this situation. First, the married student is more likely to be attending school on a part-time basis while holding a full-time job and second, he is older than most

1 Percent of civilian noninstitutional population in the labor force. SOURCE: For 1947-58, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-50, No. 90.

of his classmates and has a greater need to work to meet his financial responsibilities.

The labor force participation rate among persons not enrolled in school is much higher than among those in school, and it varies little by age. Among the 14- to 17-year-old youngsters no longer attending school, the rate in October 1960 was 62 percent, somewhat higher than in the past few years but significantly lower than the rates during the Korean hostilities. Among older outof-school youths, however, the 1960 rate of 69

TABLE 4.

SELECTED LABOR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONS 14 TO 24 YEARS OLD, BY TYPE OF SCHOOL ENROLLMENT AND AGE, OCTOBER 1960

percent was comparatively unchanged from those during the 1950's. Over 75 percent of the boys 14 to 17 years of age and nearly all of those 18 and 19 years of age who were out of school were in the labor force in October 1960 but only half the girls. Many of the girls marry upon leaving school or within a short period of time and become full-time housewives.

Hours of Work

Most students who find it necessary or desirable to obtain employment do not have much time to work. In October 1960, about four out of five of the students between the ages of 14 and 24 employed in nonagricultural industries reported that they usually worked less than 35 hours a week, about the same proportion as a year earlier. Jobholders not enrolled in school, however, had fulltime employment in October 1960, with more than 9 out of 10 nonstudents falling into this category. As indicated earlier, labor force participation rates were usually higher for older students and for men. Similar tendencies by age are evident in the number of hours worked by teenagers at nonagricultural jobs during the survey week (table 5). Older students generally worked more hours per week than their younger schoolmates, and girls usually worked fewer hours than boys. Young students tended to average only one-third as many hours as nonstudents in the same age-sex

group, while older students averaged at least half as many hours.

The comparatively small number of hours worked by the average young student is shown in chart 1. Approximately 80 percent of the boys and girls 14 and 15 years of age worked fewer than 15 hours during the week surveyed. Among the 18- and 19-year-old students, on the other hand, about one-third of the men and less than half the women worked fewer than 15 hours a week.

The relationship between age and hours of work appears to be true among nonstudents as well. For example, nearly 85 percent of the 18- and 19-year-old men worked 35 or more hours during the survey week compared with 70 percent of the 16- and 17-year-old boys. A similar tendency is also noticeable among women in these age groups, but the difference in the proportions is less sharp.

Workers employed in agricultural jobs, both students and nonstudents, put in more hours in October than did those working on nonfarm jobs. The difference was particularly sharp for students, most of whom were employed on the family farm as unpaid workers. Longer hours in agriculture are mainly attributable to the timing of the survey, which occurred at about the peak of the fall harvest

season.

Unemployment

In this survey, as in the regular monthly survey of the labor force, an unemployed person is one who did not work at all during the survey week and was looking for part-time or full-time work. Students are included in this group if they report that they are seeking work even though their major activity is attending school.

The incidence of unemployment among students and other young workers in October 1960 was the highest of all age groups, as it usually is among persons who are starting their job careers. Among all workers, 5 percent were looking for work, compared with 7 percent of the students and 10 percent of the nonstudents between the ages of 14 and 24. The number of unemployed students and nonstudents under 25 years of age and their rates of unemployment did not change significantly between October 1959 and October 1960. However, in the national economy as a whole the total number of unemployed persons and the rates of unemployment during the last three-quarters of 1960 were consistently above the comparable periods in 1959. Unemployment averaged onehalf million less in the first quarter of 1960 than in 1959. In the second quarter, it began to rise above the preceeding year's levels and by October 1960 was about 300,000, or nearly 10 percent, higher than a year earlier.

The unemployment rates for all young workers and those aged 25 and over followed somewhat different paths in the past few years. As a result of the 1958 recession, the rates for both groups of workers in October of that year were sharply higher than 12 months earlier. In 1959, when economic activity had improved, the jobless rates for the two age groups moved downward, but for older workers, the decline was sharper than for younger persons. During the 1960 recession, however, the October rate for workers under 25 years of age remained relatively unchanged at its already high level, while that for mature workers again increased significantly.

Nearly a quarter of a million students were looking for work in October; two out of three were boys and girls of high school age, in line with their proportion in the labor force. The unemployment rate was somewhat higher among elementary and high school students than among those attending

college full time but was negligible among students going to college part time, reflecting both the age composition of the students and the types of jobs which they hold. Young students are most likely to be looking for work because the jobs which they usually obtain are frequently temporary or intermittent in nature, while almost all part-time college students have full-time permanent nonfarm jobs, often in the professional, technical, or office groups.

The extent of unemployment among young persons not in school is much more severe than among students. One in 5 of the out-of-school youths 14 to 17 years of age and nearly 1 in 10 of those 18 to 24 years old were looking for work in October 1960. Unemployment is consistently most prevalent among the 16- and 17-year-old youths not enrolled in school, and especially among the boys. The extent of unemployment among young men 18 and 19 years of age was only slightly less serious. (See table 6.)

1 Includes farmers, farm managers, and farm laborers and foremen. 2 Percent not shown where base is less than 100,000.

Several factors contribute to the relatively high level of unemployment among young teenagers who have terminated their formal education. Since they leave school to go to work, the nonstudents have a greater compulsion to remain in the labor force than do boys who are combining school with employment. A significant proportion of the unemployed 16- and 17-year-old boys have little or no previous work experience, are poorly trained, if they have any training at all, and have a limited education. Moreover, many of the young boys may be undependable or have relatively poor work habits and find employers reluctant to hire them. Once they do obtain employment, most frequently an unskilled job with uncertain tenure, some boys soon become disillusioned with the job and quit to look for a better one. Studies show that unemployment is most prevalent among unskilled workers and among persons who have not completed high school.3

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

Although unemployment rates are highest among 16- and 17-year-old boys, they are usually jobless for a shorter period of time than most other persons. On the average, 16 percent of the boys (students and nonstudents) 14 to 17 years of age who were looking for work in 1960 were unemployed for 15 weeks or more compared with 24 percent of all jobless persons. Those who are still students have no particular responsibility to stay in the labor market when employment opportunities are relatively scarce, and this contributes to the shorter duration of unemployment for all young boys. Also, boys are more likely than older persons to quit jobs which they dislike to seek another, and since they are more willing to accept low paying jobs of a temporary nature, the resultant unemployment frequently does not last as long as layoffs due to economic

3 For a discussion on the relationship between unemployment and occupations and educational attainment of workers, see "Educational Attainment of Workers, 1959,❞ Monthly Labor Review, February 1960, pp. 113-122, or Special Labor Force Report No. 1.

factors. Further, they may not be as concerned with finding the right job as are older workers, since most have not established the occupation of their work careers.

Occupation and Industry

Students are employed chiefly in industries which are suitable to part-time schedules and in occupations which require little or no training or experience. Although they were only about 5 percent of the work force in October 1960, some industries, primarily those which generally pay relatively low wage rates, would be pressed for workers if students withdrew from the labor market. For example, in the private household sector, students comprised two out of every five men working as gardeners, chauffeurs, butlers, handymen, or in other capacities, and one out of every six women working chiefly as maids, housekeepers, and babysitters. In retail and wholesale trade, close to 10 percent of all the workers were persons attending school. Students are also an appreciable segment of the workers in some occupation groups. More than one out of every five men working as farm laborers in October was

Includes forestry and fisheries, mining, construction, transportation, communication, public utilities, and public administration.

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

a student, and one out of every nine sales workers in trade, manufacturing, and other industries was also enrolled in school.

As the students mature somewhat and acquire more education and work experience, they usually obtain more responsible jobs. A great many of the youngest group of working students are employed as newsboys, babysitters, and as unpaid workers on family farms. Thus, in October 1960, two out of three employed school boys 14 and 15 years old were in sales or farm occupations; more than two out of three girls in this age group were in service occupations, and one out of four was doing farm work (table 7). Of the employed 16- and 17-year-old school boys, relatively few were in sales work; they tended rather to work at nonagricultural manual jobs, and many still were needed in farm work. A smaller proportion of the girls in this age group than younger girls were in farm and service jobs and an increasing share almost 40 percent-were in clerical and sales work. Further shifts toward the more responsible jobs continue to be evident among the 18- and 19-year-old students. The modest proportion working on farms is related to the fact that most colleges are located in nonfarm areas