Postsecondary to Prosperity: Expanding Opportunity Across California
In the midst of the current pandemic, California must recalibrate its approach to supporting sidelined workers. With skyrocketing unemployment rates, many Californians are stuck without the credentials they need to pivot professionally. Their access to higher education is necessary for an equitable and inclusive recovery.
The new California Postsecondary to Prosperity Dashboard examines critical insights into statewide and regional data on educational opportunity, economic mobility, quality of life, and more—and is a powerful tool connecting individual demographics and outcomes to measures of prosperity.
STATEWIDE HIGHLIGHTS
- Asian and White Californians tend to have the highest levels of educational attainment, employment rates, and incomes. While 95 percent of Asians graduate from high school, 65 percent of Native American and Alaska Native students do.
- Though Californians of various races have similar rates of employment, their compensation is hardly uniform. For instance, 95 percent of Latinx Californians are employed—but only 46 percent get paid a living wage, while 73 percent of white Californians do.
- Inequities abound across geography as well as race; for instance, while 93 percent of Californians have health insurance, 18 percent of communities are in a doctor’s office “desert”, limiting access to care.
