As a series of new academic and economic studies indicate, the state could face a triple whammy, to wit:” Because the state's population continues to grow by at least 500,000 a year and its job base by perhaps 250,000, California always needs more workers; and,
” Baby boomers now make up about half of the state's 15-plus million workers, and their retirement over the next couple of decades will sharply increase the demand side of the equation; but,
” Huge percentages of California's teenage and 20-something population — especially nonwhites and those from immigrant families — are not receiving the educations they would need to fill the demand. [Dan Walters: California may face triple blow, Sacramento Bee 6/11/07]
Statistics show that the state is less successful than it used to be in turning out capable, educated young workers, as indicated by the recent Public Policy Institute of California paper referenced by Walters: Can California Import Enough College Graduates to Meet Workforce Needs? Of course, employers appreciate the invisible Please Exploit Me sign that foreign job applicants wear to interviews.
As reported here a couple months back, the education failure to teach diverse kiddies is so extreme that the loony legislators of Sacramexico want to double the amount spent, from $66 billion annually to $1.5 trillion.
The high school graduation rate statewide in 2006 was only 67 percent, a 10-year low, which reflected the newly instituted exit exam's effect of showing how much social promotion has been going on.
The upshot is that decades of importing poverty, particularly the world's most unsuccessful immigrant group (Mexicans), is having its predicted effect of disintegrating the social fabric and creating economic stagnation.
