Persistent growth in skill requirements on the job and low unemployment has forced Colorado to compete for skilled labor nationwide, but that threatens to leave Coloradans born in the state behind in the competition for middle class jobs— especially Latinos with a high school education or less.
Colorado has the second most-educated adult populace, but largely because it imports college-educated labor from other states. Almost 56 percent of Coloradans have a high-quality certificate, associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or higher. Yet at the same time Colorado has the fifth lowest high school graduation rate in the nation. The state’s 77 percent high school graduation rate puts it close to the bottom—the national average is 83 percent.
