The Inland Empire/Desert COE has released its latest research report, 2025 Equity Across Education & Employment Pipelines. This study is particularly exciting because it incorporates K–12 student data, which had not been included in earlier work.

The report examines the extent to which students in the K–12 and community college systems have equitable access to middle-skill “quality jobs.” As part of the study, the COE identified 89 “quality job” occupations, which is defined as those that pay a living wage, offer stability and growth potential, and do not require a four-year degree.

The findings reveal multiple points of systemic leakage in the education-to-employment pipeline, including the persistent underrepresentation of key groups such as Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, female, and students under age 24. Other findings highlight which populations are better represented and identify factors contributing to their higher or lower levels of representation.

Finally, the report offers recommendations to address these equity gaps. These include expanding outreach and access to quality jobs, strengthening student data collection and use, increasing education and employment research in the Inland Empire/Desert (IE/D) region, and growing work-based learning opportunities. Together, these findings and recommendations outline a path toward greater equity by ensuring that all students can access the programs and support that lead to quality jobs in the IE/D region.

The report is available online here.