Opportunity Imbalance: Race, Gender, and California’s Education-to-Employment Pipeline

While California’s economy rapidly adds higher-paying jobs, millions of Californians fail to qualify for these opportunities because they lack the required credential or degree. With lagging college completion rates, too few Californians can benefit from the state’s projected economic growth, and many employers look out of state and overseas for the right talent. A looming deficit of more than 2 million workers with degrees or credentials by 2025 stands in the way of California meeting its economic needs. Identifying inequities in the education-to-employment pipeline is critical to effectively closing California’s degree and credential gap, and making sure that the ideal of the California dream is accessible to all.