Saturday, January 30, 2010

Queens #1 in illiterates with low paying jobs

From the Times Ledger:

Queens has more adults working at low-wage jobs than any other borough in what an urban research agency called an illustration that “an alarming number” of city residents lack the education and skills to get better-paying jobs.

Queens also has the city’s largest percentage of illiterate adult residents.

The Center for an Urban Future, a public policy think tank based in Manhattan, said if things do not change, it could mean industries will no longer find enough workers with necessary education for the jobs they offer and will avoid the city.

The report found:

• Queens has more than 351,000 people age 18 and over working at low-wage jobs — meaning $11.15 an hour or $24,000 a year. Brooklyn had 291,000, the Bronx 168,000, Manhattan 140,882 and Staten Island 38,098. The city total is close to 1 million.

• More than 1.5 million adults in the five boroughs, who account for over 25 percent of all adult New Yorkers, do not have adequate literacy skills. In every borough except Staten Island, at least one quarter ofadults are functionally illiterate, meaning they are unable to perform such tasks as reading medical instructions, filling out a form or adding up the amounts on a bank deposit slip.

• Queens tops the city with illiterate adult residents, who make up 46 percent of people 18 or older, followed by 41 percent in the Bronx, 37 percent in Brooklyn, 25 percent in Manhattan and 14 percent in Staten Island.

The future is not bright, the Center for an Urban Future, said, since as of 2006-07 just under half of all elementary and middle school students in the city read below state and city standards. Nearly 1.2 million city residents age 25 and older, or more than 21 percent, lack a high school diploma or the equivalent.

Hispanics and other non-white residents are expected to drive much of the city population growth, but these groups have much lower rates of educational attainment. Among eighth-graders, only 52 percent of Hispanics and 45 percent of black students score at or above the basic level in math compared with 77 percent for white students.


Yes, but we're vibrant and diverse. That's gotta count for something!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does learning how to read write and speak English mean anything to these people?

I'll bet my next week paycheck they are great at speaking Ghetto!

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“an alarming number” of city residents lack the education and skills to get better-paying jobs.

Anonymous said...

QUeens is on the decline, in fact it's going to hell on a BANANA BOAT!!!

Queens Crapper said...

This perfectly illustrates my point about the old "vibrant and diverse" mantra.

How shameful is the fact that we have a big population who can't read and are in low-paying dead end jobs? Yet we never hear any politician try to rectify this situation. Instead, we brag about all the other low-paying dead end jobs that will be created by megaprojects that will only make the rich richer, we are using stimulus money to help day laborers who don't even belong here in the first place and we are putting out lame tourism pieces about being vibrant and diverse. Feel-good liberalism at its worst. Ignore the problem and refocus attention on bullshit. And then brainwash the masses into thinking that if they complain about it, then they are some kind of racists.

Fuck you, Queens Machine.

Boss Tweed said...

Fuck you, Queens Machine.

----

"What are you going to do about it"

Boss Tweed

Queens Machine said...

Fuck you, Queens Machine.

----

Who cares what the little people say.

The tweeded will vote for us.
The tweeded make great expolited workers that make us lots of money
The tweeded make great tennats
The tweeded respects authority
The tweeded have lots of needs that tweeders can make lots of money taking care of

All supported by taxes taken from your family to make the tweeders rich.

Anonymous said...

"What are you going to do about it"
Boss Tweed

It sort of like keep them barefoot and in the kitchen.

Or in a contemporary kind of way you now have an army of dumbed down folks whom will be given crumbs in return for their votes. They will serve as the new legal work force in an ever spiraling deflationary economy making little per hour and their goals is to work at Target.

Snake Plissskin said...

Just think about it....within memory, Queens used to be the second boro after Manhattan.

Now its regarded as an immigrant slum, even if you live in Douglaston, F H Gardens, or LIC.

Nice place to plunk down money.

Anonymous said...

The dumbing down of New York. This is what local politicians dream of. They coddle them and give all the illegals benefits, but also make sure the ones who are legal will vote for them over and over again. As for the illegals, they have no say, unless they forge their credentials and vote illegallly, which I'm sure they do. If they cross the border illegally, they do other things illegally because they have no regard for our laws. Our politicians turn a blind eye to this. Schools need to teach people English. Until they do, our city is doomed.

Anony2 said...

Queens may have the largest numbers of illiterates who are working. But I bet if they count those that do not work, Queens will be in 3rd place after Manhattan and Staten Isalnd.

Anonymous said...

yeah, We is nubmer #1, yeah, and it are lies, i make well money. i get more than $150 a week. thanks king Bloomberg.

Anonymous said...

I guess as long as our "gorgeous mosaic is VIBRANT! DIVERSE!, then nothing else matters.

NYC Educator said...

Perhaps that explains who voted for Mayor Bloomberg.

Anonymous said...

The report says:
"Queens has more than 351,000 people age 18 and over working at low-wage jobs — meaning $11.15 an hour or $24,000 a year. Brooklyn had 291,000, the Bronx 168,000, Manhattan 140,882 and Staten Island 38,098. "

I'm wondering where the stats are coming from. Tax returns? If so I do not believe in this number.

There are so many people I'm aware of who are pretenting they have low income, but are earning MUCH more than you think.. via CASH.

How much more? I know some indirectly whom had reported low income on tax form so they can rake in tax refunds. Yet, on top of that, they are pulling in CASH of about $5000 to $15000 PER MONTH if they are businesses. Or $2000 to $4000 a month in CASH if they are working. Can you believe it!?

I calculated that's like $100,000 to $200,000 taxable income a year for business or like $40 to $60k a year taxable.

Obviously they have no 401k (but who needs that with the current market), plus they have no dental or medical.. but that doesn't matter because remember one thing? They are low income so they have mediCAID! Man, the US system MUST BE CHANGED.. it's just so easy to rig! Most Politicans are just stupid.. They don't know what the hell they are doing.

Anonymous said...

Snake Plissskin said...

Now its regarded as an immigrant slum, even if you live in Douglaston, F H Gardens, or LIC.

Nice place to plunk down money.



Obviously others don't agree. Houses in Forest Hills Gardens continue to command about $900 per square foot...

Anonymous said...

Obviously others don't agree. Houses in Forest Hills Gardens continue to command about $900 per square foot...
--

So what? Russian mafia money. A pig is still a pig with lipstick, and a slum is still a slum no matter how much you pay for the privlege.

I mean, come on, get real. Buildings in East New York go for several $100,000.

Anonymous said...

And now for the most literate cities in America from 2008. NYC in any area wasn't mentioned then either.

Minneapolis
Seattle
Washington D.C.
St.Paul
San Francisco
Atlanta
Denver
Boston
St.Louis
Cincinnati
Portland, OR


http://web.ccsu.edu/AMLC08/default.htm

On this list below from 2009 NYC came in 29th.
Ouch!

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/trends/seattle_named_americas_most_literate_city_in_2009_146930.asp

Anonymous said...

I'm more astonished that anyone is surprised by the message these statistics provide. Please don't think that this is an illegal immigrant issue, because there a ton of american born youngsters who could care less about there free education. So how do we fix the problem? I'm more inspired by my fathers work to clean the "crap" from his neighborhood than to just cut and run or to perpetuate a problem.