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Title: Rocky Mountain Divide Lifting Latinos and Closing Equity Gaps in Colorado
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2018
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Abstract: Persistent growth in skill requirements on the job and low unemployment has forced Colorado to compete for skilled labor nationwide, but that threatens to leave Coloradans born in the state behind in the competition for middle class jobs— especially Latinos1 with a high school education or less. Colorado has the second most-educated adult populace, but largely because it imports college-educated labor from other states.2 Almost 56 percent of Coloradans have a high-quality certificate, associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or higher.3 Yet at the same time Colorado has the fifth lowest high school graduation rate in the nation. The state’s 77 percent high school graduation rate puts it close to the bottom—the national average is 83 percent.4 Because the state is committed both to improving the quality of its workforce and to improving opportunity for Coloradans born in the state, it has set an educational attainment goal that by 2025, 66 percent of state residents will have a postsecondary credential.5 The majority of states have set overall postsecondary attainment goals, but Colorado has gone a step further by setting 66 percent goals for each significant racial and ethnic grouping. State leaders expect each racial and ethnic group in the state individually to reach this goal, but right now only Whites are on track to do so: Latinos and Native Americans6 are the farthest behind in reaching the goal (29% of each have a postsecondary credential), Whites are the closest (64%), and Blacks are in between (39%). . .
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Authors: Carnevale, Anthony P; Garcia, Tanya I; Fasules, Megan L
Publisher: Georgetown University
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Race and Ethnicity
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