McCallum noted that one of the key takeaways of “Essential” is to understand that poor working conditions and work lives are not inevitable.

Carol Zabin, founder of UC Berkeley Labor Center’s Green Economy Program, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Energy Commission, or CEC, as part of its 2022 Clean Energy Hall of Fame Awards.

A complementary analysis conducted by UC Berkeley Labor Center researchers estimated about 26% of the California workforce would receive increased wages by 2026 under the Living Wage Act.

“Across the board, folks feel like they are not being valued as members of the UC community, even though we give so much and keep it running,” Kirsten Bottles Willer said.

Kirsten Willer, program coordinator at UC Berkeley Labor Center, said current wages do not reflect inflation and the high cost of living in the Bay Area, hindering her personal aspirations to start a family. “Fantastic talent is driven away from the university due to the lack of pay,” Willer said at the meeting.

Ken Jacobs, chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, said in an email that researchers have found that increasing the minimum wage improves the racial income gap, workers’ mental health and parents’ participation in the workforce.

In light of the growing use of data and algorithms in the workplace, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education released a report Nov. 3 that provides a set of policy principles for workers’ technology rights in the United States.

This number is even lower for frontline workers in the U.S. fast food industry. According to the UC Berkeley Labor Center, median pay for these workers is only $8.69 per hour, and many of these jobs pay employees at or near minimum wage.

One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re seeing improved employment figures for women. But these numbers don’t tell the whole story. The dual shocks of employment and child care loss continue to threaten decades of progress in women’s labor market participation and earnings.

Grocery store workers are also shouldering extra tasks due to guidelines for sanitization and mask compliance, according to Nari Rhee, researcher at the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education. Rhee said it is “high time” that essential workers are recognized for their efforts.

The nation’s low minimum wage could be costing state and federal governments more than $100 billion a year, a UC Berkeley Labor Center study published Thursday finds.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, two-thirds of the California labor force would be considered as being employed in occupations of close proximity, according to a Nov. 30 study from the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.

“California has the most comprehensive portfolio of climate policies and programs, so it’s really important to add labor and equity elements to that, and this report shows the state how,” Zabin said.

“Health care and nurses unions have an impressive history of fighting to improve their working conditions and pushing for patient care policy reforms that benefit all of us,” Lucia said.

With the federal government at a standstill on a stimulus package and the challenge of controlling the pandemic and establishing economic stability, the U.S. economy could spiral from a recession to a depression, according to a study by UC Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.

The report states that many health care workers were furloughed because of the lack of PPE, partially resulting in more than 250,000 California health care workers receiving unemployment benefits. According to the report, for every week earlier that these workers could return to work in the next pandemic, the state would save approximately $93 million in unemployment insurance payments.

A study conducted by UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education found that Uber and Lyft would have had to pay more than $400 million in the last five years into California’s unemployment insurance fund if their drivers were employees rather than independent contractors.