A new report from the California Budget Project seems to paint a pciture of California 15 years from now that is even more ethnically diverse than today, while also older and less skilled for the workplace... trends which will likely present serious challenges for policymakers.

The report is online here. CBP is a non-profit research organization that advocates for programs affecting low and middle-income citizens.

The study takes government data and draws some interesting conclusions:

* By 2020, California's single largest ethnic group will be Latino... 43% of the population, versus 33.7% Caucasian, 12.7% Asian, and 6.7% African American. The shift appears to be the culmination of a trend that's been shaping up over the last few decades.

* One third of the Latino population in 2020 will be under the age of 20, a larger percentage of young citizens than any other single ethnicity.

* California will also become more "gray", with a whopping 71% increase in citizens over the age of 65 between 2000 and 2020. The racial group that is getting oldest the fastest: Caucasians.

* The recent massive growth of students in grades K-12 will soon dramatically slow down. CBP estimates only a 7.3% growth in enrollment between 2000 and 2010, compared to the 21.1% increase that occurred between 1990 and 2000. And by 2013, the report estimates that 6 of every 10 California school children will be either Latino or African American-- with a sizable number of those being English language learners.

* The CBP report also raises concerns about how few Latinos, for example, have obtained college degrees from the UC and CSU system in recent years, compared to their Caucasian classmates. Given its projections of dramatic growth in the Latino population, the report concludes that enrollment and graduation rates among students other than whites must increase, if California is to meet its future workforce needs.