An overview of job quality and equity in existing manufacturing employment in the Bay Area, identifying challenges and strategies for cultivating a high-road manufacturing sector.

A report from the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, including research from the UC Berkeley Labor Center. This edition of the “State of the Unions” report offers readers insight into how California unions are faring in the face of an unfriendly federal administration, a militarized deportation campaign, and a continuing cost-of-living crisis.

This report examines the security guard workforce across the country—who these workers are, what they earn, the conditions under which they work, and the standards that govern the industry—and argues that improving job quality in security is a matter both of economic justice and of public safety.

As a result of federal and state policy decisions made in 2025, we project that 4.6 million Californians under age 65 will be uninsured by 2030—an increase of 2.2 million—and the uninsured rate will nearly double to 14.7%.

This brief examines the disproportionately low rates of job-based health coverage for low-wage California workers, the costs to the state and nation, and possible policy options, drawing on lessons from other states.

This factsheet highlights the characteristics of the private sector security guard workforce in California, the Los Angeles MSA, and the five-county Bay Area, and highlights the need to improve labor conditions in the industry.

This factsheet describes the characteristics of the private sector security guard workforce in Seattle and the state of Washington, highlighting the need to improve labor conditions in the industry.

We provide county-level projections of how many fewer Californians will be enrolled in full-scope Medi-Cal by 2028 as a result of policy changes in federal H.R.1 and the enacted 2025-26 state budget.

This factsheet describes the characteristics of the private sector security guard workforce in Baltimore, highlighting the need to improve labor conditions in the industry.

Updated December 2025. An overview of current U.S. public policy that regulates employers’ use of digital workplace technologies.

This paper uses data from January 2022 to determine the earnings of delivery network company drivers in Seattle prior to implementation of the city’s App-Based Worker Minimum Payment Ordinance, and to calculate what their earnings would have been had the policy been in place at that time, finding that earnings would have been below the city’s minimum wage.

This report is the second in a series of reports looking at wages, living conditions, and economic challenges for workers and their families in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. It finds that while East Bay workers experienced real wage growth during the recovery from the COVID-19 recession, many still lived at or “near” poverty, struggling to make ends meet during the years 2021-2023.

The report State of the Unions: California Labor in 2024 provides a snapshot of the California labor movement at a time of dramatic political and economic shifts nationwide. Led by researchers at the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) and the UC Berkeley Labor Center, the report analyzes the most recent publicly available data on union density, member demographics, and labor organizing activity in California and the nation.

This factsheet highlights the characteristics of the private sector security guard workforce in NYC, home to a large part of the nation’s security guard workforce. With its scale and visibility, NYC has the potential to set a national standard for improving labor conditions in the security services industry, which has national revenues of $22.7 billion for unarmed guard services alone. The labor conditions of security guards are also foundational to broader questions of how cities achieve public safety.

A searchable inventory of contract provisions from over 175 union agreements showing how collective bargaining has been used to address workplace technologies, protect worker rights, and shape technology adoption, use, and oversight.

This paper focuses on medical debt in California, and existing and potential policy solutions to ameliorate the ruinous financial effects of medical debt in the state.

This case study examines how Revive Oakland! (RO), a community-labor coalition, took a leading role in shaping the billion-dollar redevelopment of the Oakland Army Base (OAB) 25 years ago.

California’s historic expansion of coverage to undocumented individuals has not only brought the state closer to universal coverage, but has also reduced racial disparities in health coverage. However, this progress is at risk due to a new state budget proposal that would curtail Medi-Cal benefits for certain immigrants, ahead of additional severe federal cuts to Medicaid being considered.

Accessible, non-technical FAQ answering common questions about AI and other digital technologies in the workplace, how employers use them, and how workers are impacted.

Republicans are considering major cuts to Medicaid to offset tax cuts. Depending on the specific mechanisms and timing for cutting Medicaid, California could expect to see between $10 billion and $20 billion fewer federal dollars per year coming to Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. These federal cuts would lead to significant job loss in health care and other sectors.