A 2018 study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center defined low-wage workers as those earning less than two-thirds of the median full-time wage in California. About 32% of California’s workers, some 4.9 million, earned less than $14.35 an hour in 2017.

By some measures, including a study from the U.C. Berkeley Labor Center, older-adult poverty in the Los Angeles area stands at nearly one in three seniors – the highest level in the state. Without aggressive intervention, this figure could mushroom further, because the “graying” population is forecast to double in size during the next 20 years.

Without a statewide plan, funding and timeline to support oil workers, Carol Zabin said, a just transition “sounds like an invitation to a fancy funeral.”

More than 20,000 COVID-19 cases among essential workers in the state may have been avoidable if proper PPE had been available before the pandemic, a UC Berkeley Labor Center study found in August. Moreover, it’s “likely that dozens of deaths” among these workers could also have been avoided.