The government followed around 9,000 kids and found out what happens to those who don’t go to college.

Call it the government’s version of Facebook.

Each year, the Feds choose 9,000 kids to follow and – in turn – finds a few interesting facts about what happens when they don’t finish school. Simple answer: they have more trouble finding jobs.

The government – in it’s famous National Longitudinal Survey – in 1997 selected 9,000 ages 12 to 17 who are today they’re between ages 25 to 31. After 14 rounds of interviews, it found:

By the time they were 25 years old, 30 percent of women and 22 percent of men had earned a bachelor’s degree.

They held an average of 6.3 jobs from ages 18 to 25. Those with more education held more jobs and worked more weeks.

Here it is broken down:

• 60 percent of high school dropouts were employed when they were 25 years old.
• 76 percent of high school graduations without any college were employed at age 25 (3 percent of them were serving in the armed forces.)
• 81 percent of them with some college – but no degree – were employed (3 percent were in the armed forces.)
• 91 percent of them with a bachelor’s degree had a job (2 percent were in the armed forces.)

Parents, start saving for college. Kids, stay in school.