Worker Participation, New Job Entrants, Chronic Absenteeism Could be Linked
Two separate stories ran on oregonlive.com over the weekend that may have more in common than meets the eye. A third story may provide a clue.
The first story reported that Oregon’s labor force participation has reached its highest level since 2012. The second story reported fewer Oregon high school graduates are going to college, at least right away.
State economist Josh Lerner said nearly 63 percent of Oregonians had a job or were looking for one in March. Almost 83 percent of Oregonians between the ages of 25 to 45 have a job. Lerner says this high level of workforce participation is notable as net in-migration to Oregon is static and the state’s overall population is aging.
Oregon’s unemployment rate has ticked up to 4.2 percent at the same time. Gail Krumenauer, an economist with the Oregon Employment Department, says a large percentage of the increase is because more people are entering the workforce. Only a third of jobless Oregonians were laid off or fired.
The second story reported that only 56 percent of Oregon graduating seniors in 2021 enrolled in a community college, university or trade school. A decade earlier, 65 percent of graduating seniors pursued some form of postsecondary education.
The drop-off in college attendance is greatest among rural students and racial minorities. Oregonian reporters noted that a decade ago, a majority of Oregon high school graduates in every racial group went to college. In 2021, the latest year for data, that fell to 41 percent of Indigenous students, 49 percent of Latinos and 37 percent of Pacific Islanders.
Student interviews indicate rising tuition and the fear of student loan debt have deterred many students. The oregonlive.com article said, Oregon’s public universities charge resident students the highest tuition and fees among 15 westernmost states. Its community college costs are the second most expensive, trailing only South Dakota. A bungled rollout of a new federal financial aid application hasn’t helped.
Oregonian reporters interviewed a high school senior at Parkrose High School. The student, who is a Pacific Islander, is considering college, but remains undecided. He would be the first member of his family to attend college. Pacific Islanders, based on the data, ae the ethnic group with largest decline in college enrollment.
The story includes this narrative: “Parkrose High is located by Portland International Airport, and nearly every member of the Pacific Islander club can reel off a list of family members who work there. His mother cleans jetways and planes. One of his older brothers ushers travelers in wheelchairs through security and to their gates. He worked there last summer and could go back because the airport is always hiring. Or he could join his other older brother fulfilling orders at an Amazon warehouse 20 minutes away.”
A Third Story
There could justifiably have been a third story – about chronic absenteeism in K-12 schools. Oregon’s most recent data shows 38 percent of students statewide were chronically absent from school in the 2022-2023 school year. The absentee rate was larger in a number of rural school districts, including 57.4 percent at Harney County Union High School. The absentee rate for the Reynolds School District just east of Portland with an enrollment of more than 10,000 students, had an absentee rate of almost 51 percent.
Oregon’s 10 largest school districts saw absentee rates in 2023 ranging from 33 percent in Beaverton to 48 percent in Salem-Keizer Public Schools. The absentee rate for Portland Public Schools was 36 percent.
A few small school districts reported improved absentee rates, including the Ione School District in Eastern Oregon that serves 200 students in a farming community. Its 2023 absentee rate was 28 percent.
The national average is estimated at 26 percent. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the chronic absentee rate was 15 percent.
School Attendance and Success
Regular school attendance, experts say, is linked to student learning and development of social skills. Routinely missing school is seen as a marker for dropping out of school before graduation.
Reasons for missing school vary widely, including serious illness, anxiety, substance abuse, language barriers, consistently bad grades, bullying, housing insecurity and lack of transportation. It’s possible some students miss school to take unfilled jobs that help support their families.
