01.22.06
an education crisis
Lindemann: crisis looms in economy
Under-schooled population poses problems for area
– reported by the Pasadena/Baytown news
[snip]
“There’s a huge gap between the requirements of the entry-level jobs in our area and the education level of the work-force population. That’s the perfect storm.”
The crisis is looming, he said, because many workers who were hired 25 or 30 years ago and have received on-the-job retraining throughout their careers are getting ready to retire. The number of East Harris County workers who are qualified to replace them will probably fall short of the need, he said.
[snip]
In that same 33-year period, the Hispanic population grew from about 98,860 to 468,480, nearly quadrupling with an increase of 374 percent. Meanwhile, the Anglo population decreased from about 433,000 to 306,700, or about 30 percent.
Between 1970 and 2005, the Hispanic percentage of the total population grew from 17.5 to 57.4, while the percent white decreased from 76.5 percent to 31.5 percent, according to the college’s report.
The importance of these figures is that Hispanics have lower education levels than whites, African-Americans and Asians, Lindemann said.
The explanation for the lower education attainment of Hispanics, the chancellor said, is recent immigration.
[snip]
Sometime between 2020 and 2035, Texas will be more than 50 percent Hispanic. This trend doesn’t matter, Murdock said, unless Hispanic education levels continue to lag behind.
But if education differences remain, Texas will be poorer and less competitive than it is today, he said.
[snip]
