State working poor lack education opportunities, report says
by By Carla Rivera
California has the highest number of working poor families in the nation, but the state does an ineffective job of providing educational opportunities to boost them out of poverty, according to a new report released Wednesday.
The report, Working Hard, Left Behind, found that the state has the largest number of adults without a high school diploma or equivalent and ranks last among states in the percentage of low-income working families in which neither parent has a college education.
And although the state’s older population is among the most well-educated in the nation, younger adults are losing ground, with those ages 25 to 34 ranking 25th among their peers in other states in obtaining a bachelor’s degree or higher.
The report was produced by the nonprofit Campaign for College Opportunity and the Women’s Foundation of California and is based on 2011 U.S. census data.
“What’s really disturbing to see is how many working poor families there are in California and that it’s more than we have imagined,” said Michele Siqueiros, executive director of the college
