A Less Educated Workforce? Checking the Numbers
If demographic trends don't change, Texas will have fewer grads in the workforce. Photo courtesy flickr.com/inkyhackAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
A business leader says more Texas workers could lack a high school diploma by 2040. Bill Hammond of the Texas Association of Business said “If current trends continue, by 2040, 1 out of 3 Texas workers will not have a high school diploma” and that this would be an economic nightmare. KUT’s Nathan Bernier spoke with Gardner Selby of the Austin American-Statesman’s PolitiFact Texas about the science underlying Hammond’s numbers.
This figure starts from the state’s racial and ethnic mix at that time and assumed that people within the subsets, within the groups, will continue to have the same levels of education in 2040 as 2000. The trend: Generally, highly educated baby boomers have started retiring and they will continue doing so, and they’re being replaced with less educated cohorts.
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