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Latest numbers reveal two-tier California
- 05-18-2011
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Column by Dan Waters/Sacramento Bee
A quarter-century ago, I wrote a series of articles about California's megatrends that transmogrified into a book, "The New California: Facing the 21st Century." My chief premise was that intertwining cultural, demographic, economic and political forces were radically transforming the state. I quoted one academic study that saw "the possible emerging of a two-tier economy with Asians and non-Hispanic whites competing for high-status positions while Hispanics and blacks struggle to get low-paying service jobs." Last week's release of detailed 2010 census data and this week's unveiling of a massive statistical study of Californians' educations, incomes and health confirm that what was theory in 1985 has become reality. The census tells us that the state's rapidly growing Latino population will surpass a declining and aging white population to become its largest ethnic group within a few years. Meanwhile, data from "A Portrait of California," a 170-page statistical study from the Social Science Research Council, reveal a growing gap of personal well-being between a relatively small white and Asian overclass and a largely black and Latino underclass. (more...)
Also: Huffington Post
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