EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EDT, JUNE 29, 1998 (MONDAY) Public Information Office CB98-106 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) **REVISED** 301-457-4067 (TDD) Jennifer Day 301-457-2464 Young African Americans Boost High-School Completion Rate, Census Bureau Reports Eighty-six percent of African Americans ages 25 to 29 were high-school graduates in 1997, continuing an upward trend in the educational attainment of African Americans that began in 1940, according to a report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. The embargoed tabulations used in the report can be accessed at http://www.census.gov/dcmd/www/embargo/embargo.html. After the release time, go to http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/educ-attn.html. The gap in high-school completion between African Americans and Whites narrowed in the 25- to 29-year-old age group over the past decade to the point where there was no statistical difference in 1997. "The educational attainment of young African Americans (ages 25 to 29) indicates a dramatic improvement by groups who historically have been less educated," said Jennifer Day, author of the report. The report, Educational Attainment in the United States: March 1997, P20-505, makes these other points: - The proportion of the Hispanic population ages 25 and over with a high school or higher degree increased from 51 percent in 1987 to 55 percent in 1997. - More than 4 in 10 (42 percent) of the Asian and Pacific Islander population ages 25 and over were college graduates; for Whites, it was 25 percent and for African Americans, 13 percent. The data are from the March 1997 Current Population Survey. As in all surveys, the data are subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Editor's Note: The Public Information Office now has a media-access server for embargoed news releases and data sets. It is available to accredited media representatives only. To gain access, please contact us for a username and password. The media-access server's Internet address is http://www.census.gov/dcmd/www/embargo/embargo.html. We would appreciate any comments you may have about the site. The Census Bureau pre-eminent collector and provider of timely, relevant and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. In more than 100 surveys annually and 20 censuses a decade, evolving from the first census in 1790, the Census Bureau provides official information about America's people, businesses, industries and institutions.
-X-
