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129915 1 (1986-05-20)

handle is hein.gao/gaobactsb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY EXPECTED AT 9:30 A.M. TUESDAY, MAY 20, 1986 129915 STATEMENT OF WILLIAM J. GAINER, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR HUMAN RESOURCES DIVISION BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ELEMENTARY, SECONDARY, AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR ON THE SCHOOL DROPOUT PROBLEM Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: I am pleased to be here today to assist you in your deliberations on H.R. 3042, The Dropout Prevention and Reentry Act of 1985. My testimony will provide summary information on the current state of knowledge on the school dropout problem. This information is from our ongoing review of national youth surveys and the literature which we are performing at the Subcommittee's request. In particular, I will discuss (1) the number of dropouts, (2) the factors related to youth dropping out of school, and (3) the labor market consequences-of not finishing high school. Before I do though, I'd like to describe why we should be concerned with dropouts, given the fact that overall, high school completion has risen dramatically in the past half century--only 38 percent of persons age 25-29 completed high school in 1940, compared with 86 percent in 1984. For blacks the increase in high school completion has been even more striking, rising from 12 percent in 1940 to 79 percent in 1984. But despite this progress there are countervailing factors which cause concern even though graduation rates are increasing. One such factor is that high school students' achievement levels declined during the late 1960s and the 1970s. In addition, the unemployment rate for black youth has risen steadily over a long period of time and continues to do so. For example, in 1972, the unemployment rate for black teenagers was already 35 percent, but continued to rise to 43 percent in April 1986. For their white counterparts, the unemployment rate was much lower--14 percent in 1972 and up only slightly to 16 percent in April 1986. Not only has this substantial widening of the racial gap in unemployment rates for youth occurred, but there has also been an increase in the gap between black and white youth who even seek work. In April 1986, the labor force participation rate of black youth was 57 percent, while for whites it was 68 percent. Now to come back to dropouts, and this is the crucial point, chronic joblessness is concentrated among poor and minority youth who have dropped out of school. To summarize what is known and not known about dropouts, I'd like to make five points and thei elaborate on each one. --First, data on the number of school dropouts are inconclusive. National estimates of the rate at which youth drop out of school range from about 13 to 25

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