Southeast Texas P-16 Council

There will be 1.3 million new jobs created in Texas from 2008 to 2018,  a new study by  shows.

For those with just a high school diploma, the number of jobs estimated to be create by 2018  drops to 559,000

For those without a high school diploma that number drops even further to 356,000 — a rate of only about 20,000 new jobs per year.

The study,  ”Not Just Kid Stuff Anymore: The Economic Imperative for More Adults to Complete College” was published June 22, 2011, by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS).

The report estimates there were 280,802 high school students receiving diplomas in 2009-10 and there will be 337,406 new high school graduates in 2020 — a growth of 20.2 percent.

The situation is tougher nationwide:  ”Over the next decade there will be no national growth in the number of high school graduates, the report’s authors write, and “Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia will experience a decline in the number of high school graduates between 2010 and 2020.”

The report which call for getting more adults to complete college, notes, that assuming  no changes in grant aid or other policies that affect enrollment, college enrollment by adults will grow nationally twice as fast as enrollments by traditional-age students – a reversal of the trend from 2000 and 2008  when high school graduates grew faster than enrollments by adults age 25 and older (25.3 percent v. 23.6 percent).

The Southeast Texas P-16 Council has been passing out the new Generation TX “Learn More, Earn More” posters at various ISDs this past week. The show how career ladders work in six career fields. (More posters are planned)

We have some posters for each ISD, but getting around to each is going to take some time. I am hopeful that High Schools and Junior Highs will put them up in very visible places in halls, lobbies, etc. The posters talk about career paths, and how continuing one’s education leads to better positions and better salaries.

If you put them up at your school, take a picture with a student or two standing near them and send them to be sbuser@setxP16.org so we can show them on our web site.

You can download and view the posts at the GenTX.org web site:
http://downloads.gentx.org/index.php?content=print