Leisure Time in Our Community - Adult Education: Job Training Or Leisure Activity?

The chart above shows the percentage of the adult population that participated in adult education during the years 1978-1999. The chart also shows the percentage of those participating for various reasons from 1991 to 1999¹⁷.

The percentage of the adult population participating in adult education has soared since 1978 (from 11.8% of the adult population in 1978 to 46% in 1999). In 1978, 18.2 million people were enrolled in adult education classes. By 1999, the number had reached 90 million. By contrast, the number of adults enrolled in degree programs at colleges and universities was 11.3 million and 15 million, respectively.

Advancement on the job continues to be the top reason people participate in adult education, but in the mid-to late-1990s, participation in adult education was becoming more and more of a social activity. From 1991 to 1999, 6% fewer adults took adult education classes to advance on their job, but 13% more adults took classes for personal development and socializing.

A higher percentage of adults are also taking adult education classes to train for a new job, but a lower percentage of adults participated in order to complete a degree or obtain a diploma.

Do men and women participate in adult education equally? Do they both have the same reasons for taking adult education courses? Have these reasons changed over time? The next panel will look at gender differences in adult education.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1980, 1994, 1996, and 2001. Kwang Kim and Sean Creighton. "Participation in Adult Education in the United States: 1998-99." Statistics in Brief, November 1999. Retrieved February 21, 2002 from http://nces.ed.gov.