Study shows gender gap in education attainment

News release: At age 23, a clear gender gap exists in educational attainment, the U.S. Bureau of Labor says. A longitudinal study from 2003 to 2008 of those were age 23 in October shows that 23 percent of women had earned a bachelor’s degree, compared with 14 percent of men. Women at age 23 also were less likely than men to be high school dropouts or high school graduates not enrolled in college. The data is the from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, a survey of about 9,000 young men and women born in 1980 through 1984. Overall, 19 percent of individuals had received a bachelor’s degree by the October when they were age 23, up from 10 percent at age 22.