The Labor Center conducts a wide range of research on low-wage work in California and nationally. Our research focuses on documenting and understanding working conditions in low-wage industries, especially for women, immigrants, and workers of color. We also analyze policies to raise labor standards at the local, state, and national levels.
For an in-depth description of California’s low-wage workforce, see our Data Explorer.
View our Inventory of US City and County Minimum Wage Ordinances.
You can also visit our Black Worker project.
Minimum wage, living wage, and other labor standards studies.
Research on the societal and fiscal costs of low-wage work.
In-depth studies of labor markets and working conditions in low-wage industries.
May 18, 2022
California’s Labor Market in the Time of COVID-19
May 12, 2022
Low-Wage Work in California Data Explorer
May 16, 2022
RELEASE: Failure to Deliver: Assessing Amazon’s Freedom of Association Policy under International Labor Standards
May 15, 2022
40 years later, labor leaders remember NYC Chinatown’s garment worker strike
January 20, 2022
Help taxpayers by cleaning up the construction industry
Our minimum wage and living wage tools and resources includes our Inventory of US City and County Minimum Wage Ordinances and a table of current local minimum wages in California.
The Living Wage Act is a proposed ballot measure to increase the California minimum wage to $18 an hour by 2025. This report examines which workers stand to benefit from the proposed increase.
New research finds that an $18 minimum wage would give five million California workers a pay raise; the ballot initiative would help lift 3.5 million Californians out of poverty.
Across the country, cities and counties have become laboratories of policy innovation on labor standards. Before 2012, only five localities had minimum wage laws; currently, 56 counties and cities do. To help inform policymakers and other stakeholders, the UC Berkeley Labor Center is maintaining an up-to-date inventory of these laws, with details on wage levels, scheduled increases, and other law details, as well as links to the ordinances.
This blog post highlights some of the findings from our just-released update to our chartbook “California’s labor market in the times of COVID-19,” which explores labor market trends in California over the past two historic years.
Lopezlira, who’s studied the impact of wages and turnover on airport safety and security, says lower turnover reduces the constant need to train or retrain new workers. This can also reduce any existing gaps in security or safety measures that could pose a risk to worker and public safety.
Just 21% of California workers operating home-based day cares reported having some form of retirement savings, according to the center. Comparatively, 46% of Californians working in the private sector have a retirement plan, according to a report by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
“Consumer spending is also going to drop severely, so I’m not sure how many real opportunities for gig type of work there will be, or whether people will be able to live on those kinds of jobs,” Enrique Lopezlira said.
“The good news is we have seen some wage growth …,” Enrique Lopezlira said. “There have been more job openings than workers. The problem is some of that wage growth has slowed down and with inflation creeping up, the real purchasing power of the wage has declined.”
A Labor Center study on the San Francisco International Airport, cited by the Florida union in its report, found higher employee wages led to lower turnover and better performance. Workers who stayed at their jobs longer also had the experience to better avoid mistakes and identify safety and security issues, Lopezlira said.
Enrique Lopezlira
Director, Low-Wage Work Program
Annette Bernhardt
Director, Technology and Work Program
Ken Jacobs
Labor Center Chair
Savannah Hunter
Research and Policy Associate
