<p>From a New York Times story about Reading, Pa., which just achieved the distinction of having the highest percentage of residents living in poverty of any city with 65,000 or more population (emphasis added):</p>
<p>
One of Readings more entrenched problems is education. Just 8 percent of its residents have a bachelors degree, far below the national average of 28 percent. </p>
<p>Without a bachelors degree, forget it, said Ms. Williams, 28, who is taking classes to earn her G.E.D… Only about 63 percent of Readings residents have a high school diploma, compared with more than 85 percent nationally.</p>
<p>Lower education generally means higher poverty. About a fifth of people ages 25 to 34 with only a high school diploma in the United States were poor last year, compared with just 5 percent of college graduates , said Yiyoon Chung, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. For those without a high school diploma, the rate was 40 percent.</p>
<p>Ms. Santiago, 36, has an associates degree from a local community college, but said that employers wanted to see more from job candidates. She lost her last full-time job in 2007, and has worked in low wage jobs without benefits through a temporary agency ever since.</p>
<p>They even want a degree to be a secretary , said Ms. Santiago, picking up her 8-year-old son at the center.
</p>
<p>But:</p>
<p>
Even for young people with a bachelors degree, the economy is making life difficult. Vickie Moll, who runs the day care center, said the number of applications from teachers who have lost their jobs had grown as the waves of budget cuts washed over the state. We have people in here with bachelors degrees making $8 an hour, she said.
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<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/us/reading-pa-tops-list-poverty-list-census-shows.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper#h[/url][] ”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/us/reading-pa-tops-list-poverty-list-census-shows.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper#h[]</a></p> ;