California is not only facing a budget gap, but also an
education gap. Hans Johnson, at
the Public Policy Institute of California, recently completed a study on
education in California entitled Educating
California: Choices for the Future.
In this study, Johnson explains that by 2025, the number of Californians
graduating from college will not be able to meet the demands of employers that
increasingly require a highly educated workforce. The gap between the demands
of the economy and the supply of college educated workers is a serious threat
to the state’s economic future.
To put it simply: California is over-regulated, and under-educated.
Policymakers regulate every aspect of our economy. Burdensome business regulations drive
companies out of the state, and the jobs they offer go along with them. Too often, Californians looking to
start a business move to a neighboring state where taxes and regulation are
lower rather than start a business here.
Overregulation is stifling our economy.
State Universities – responsible for awarding 75 percent of
the state’s bachelors degrees annually – have been forced to reduce admissions,
in response to proposed budget cuts, and to raise instate tuition; making
California’s most common avenue for higher education too expensive for many
California families.
The nation’s highest paying employers need highly skilled
employees. Therefore, big,
important, firms look for states with high populations of college graduates
when opening new offices. The PPIC
estimates that by 2025, 41 percent of jobs in California will require a
bachelor’s degree, but only 35 percent of adults will have one. Because of the
lack of supply of highly educated adults, fewer high paying jobs will locate in
California. Fewer high paying jobs
means less income and less tax revenue.
Endless regulation and onerous taxes already dissuade businesses
from locating in the state only compound the problem. Now we can add a poorly educated workforce to the challenges
California will face in the future.
It used to be that college educated, highly skilled workers
would flock to the centers of innovation and entrepreneurship in California,
and low skilled workers would move out.
This is no longer the case.
Facing one of the highest tax rates in the nation, high-skilled workers
choose to begin their careers in states where they can prosper, own a home and
raise a family.
We have more high school drop-outs than we have low-skilled
jobs in which to employ them. Currently, 1 in 5 high school drop-outs in
California is unemployed. Our
lenient social services program further incentivizes never learning a skill and
finding a job.
The prospects are not much brighter for high school
graduates. They are twice as likely as college graduates to be unemployed in
the current economy. High school
graduates that are employed earn half as much on average as college graduates. With increasing demand for high-skilled
workers, the prospects for low-skilled workers will get even worse.
The question is how do we make more high-skilled workers? One way is to make the distinct
advantages of a college education clear to students, and to parents, and to
teach to the goal: structure classes to prepare students for higher education. We should also promote technical and vocational
training to those who want to learn a valuable skill.
Getting policymakers to understand that overregulation is
killing the chance of success for so many of our youth will be harder to do.
But, maybe after graduating from college and becoming successful, they can go
up to Sacramento and clean things up.