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.
March 29, 2021
The Labor Center welcomes new Low-Wage Work Program Director
April 15, 2021
The downstream benefits of higher incomes and wages
March 2, 2021
The Fast-Food Industry and COVID-19 in Los Angeles
February 18, 2021
Paid sick leave will help protect us in this pandemic
October 19, 2020
Labor Center research and Proposition 22
A list of California city and county ordinances, proclamations, mayoral directives, and orders that expand labor standards for workers affected by the pandemic, such as paid sick leave, health care, worker retention/right of return, and policies that lift workers’ voices in firm, industry, and government responses to the pandemic.
The Labor Center is working to provide research on how California is experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic; analysis of new policies, what they offer the state’s workers and businesses, and what is still needed; and curated lists of resources, information, and tools for workers and their advocates.
This data brief estimates the public cost to Delaware and the federal government from the use of safety net programs among low-wage working families who would be directly affected by an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. We find that just over half of these Delaware families (51%) are enrolled in at least one safety net program, at an annual cost of $700 million.
This article, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, discusses research that used natural experiments to measure downstream effects that are clearly caused by changes in family income. There is strong evidence of a causal effect of higher net income on child development, including math and reading test scores, educational attainment, birth weight, mental health, and health in adulthood.
We are pleased to announce that Enrique Lopezlira has been selected as the new director of the Low-Wage Work Program, effective March 29, 2021.
According to the UC Berkeley Labor Center, one in 10 low-income workers experiences wage theft in California. Violations range from getting paid below minimum wage to working off the clock or without overtime pay, resulting in thousands of dollars in lost compensation per worker.
The gig companies do not pay into state unemployment insurance funds. In California, a UC Berkeley Labor Center study estimated that Uber and Lyft would have had to pay $413 million into the state’s unemployment insurance fund from 2014 to 2019 if they had been required to do so.
A 2019 report from the UC Berkeley Labor Center found “significant misclassification problems” in the trucking industry, citing studies suggesting up to 85% of port truck drivers across the country could be misclassified.
In an industry where high rates of turnover make it tough for employees to unionize and collectively bargain, the council could be a tool for workers to increase their negotiating power, said Ken Jacobs at the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
The Labor Center at the University of California, Berkeley, in an October 2019 analysis of Proposition 22, wrote that while the initiative guarantees drivers 120% of minimum wage, since it only applies when the drivers are actually en route to or transporting passengers, drivers may be paid for only 67% of their actual working time.
Enrique Lopezlira
Director, Low-Wage Work Program
Annette Bernhardt
Director, Future of Work & Workers Program
Ken Jacobs
Labor Center Chair
Kuochih Huang
Policy Research Specialist
Sarah Thomason
Research and Policy Coordinator
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