Used to be, if one's state was near the bottom of whatever metric was being bandied about (literacy, income, median number of teeth in an adult's head, etc.) one could always say, "Thank God for Mississippi," because Mississippi was always sucking hind teat.
Well, no more. It seems California is vying for last place in all sorts of metrics lately, the following is just the latest:
I Have Seen the Future and It Doesn't Work [Mark Krikorian]
A couple of my colleagues have released a brief look at some of immigration's effects on California. The most striking finding was that California has the least-educated work force in the nation:
In 1970, California had the 7th most educated work force of the 50 states in terms of the share of its workers who had completed high school. By 2008 it ranked 50th, making it the least educated state.
Nor will California be able to catch up with Mississippi and Arkansas any time soon: "There is no indication that California will soon close the educational gap. California ranks 35th in terms of the share of its 19-year-olds who have completed high school."
Speaking of Mississippi: "California's income distribution in 2008 was more unequal than was Mississippi's in 1970."
And this too: "In 2008 California ranked 11th highest in terms of the share of its households accessing at least one major welfare program and 8th highest in terms of the share of the state’s population without health insurance."
But don't worry — it'll all work out. You know, when the state spends all that extra money it has on the education and training of its future workforce.
Linky to study:
http://www.cis.org/articles/2010/california-education.pdf
