Interviews of workers represented by SEIU Local 1000 were conducted by Jazmin Rivera, Community Education Specialist at the UCLA Labor Center.

Ensuring that California workers are earning a wage that allows them to provide for themselves and their families is essential for a full recovery from the economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet even the state government, one of California’s largest employers with more than 200,000 employees, has failed to provide living wages to a large portion of its workforce. This has resulted in many of the State of California’s working families facing enormous challenges including food insecurity and an untenable rent burden.

This report provides a two-fold analysis of living wages among California state government workers. The first analysis uses payroll data from the State Controller’s Office to document that a sizable share of workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1000 (SEIU Local 1000) across California do not earn a living wage. SEIU Local 1000 is the largest public sector union in the state representing almost half of all state government workers.[1] Interviews conducted by the UCLA Labor Center with SEIU Local 1000 members illustrate the financial struggles faced by state employees as found in these data.

A second, separate analysis uses data from the American Community Survey and California Department of Human Resources and reveals that women, Black, and Latino workers are overrepresented in state government jobs that do not pay living wages.

State workers represented by SEIU Local 1000 lack sufficient wages to meet basic needs

Despite providing services that are vital to the state of California, sizable shares of state workers represented by SEIU Local 1000 do not earn a family-sustaining wage even when working full time. Interviews with state workers reveal that some need to work overtime or multiple jobs to afford a decent living.

Many state workers across occupations cannot make ends meet

Many struggling state workers represented by SEIU Local 1000 are employed in occupations that provide services that are essential to the public’s health and quality of life, including custodians, health care workers, and librarians. Further analysis of all state workers, using data from the American Community Survey and California Department of Human Resources, reveals that workers of color and women are overrepresented in many of the lowest earning occupations in state government, including health care support, office and administration, and food preparation. Without meaningful gains in wages, existing racial, and gender disparities in pay will persist or worsen.

 

Lack of living wage for workers represented by SEIU Local 1000 is a statewide problem

State workers throughout California struggle to raise a family, even in families with two working adults. Difficulty obtaining livable wages is especially acute in the Bay Area, but even in rural counties like Shasta and Mendocino more than 40% of state workers represented by SEIU Local 1000 earn below family-sustaining wages. Workers in more rural counties often have to commute long distances to access their jobs, education for themselves or their children, health care, and child care.

We turn now to the gender and racial analysis of wages and self-sufficiency among all California state employees, using data from the American Community Survey and California Department of Human Resources.

According to the California Department of Human Resources, in 2020 the gender pay gap for women in California employed in civil services was 14.3% percent–meaning women earn 85.7%  of the male median base salary. Moreover, the gender pay gap for Latinas and Black women was higher than the statewide pay gap for all women.[3]

As shown in the following two graphs, women and workers of color face systemic inequities in their employment as California state government workers.

 

Women state workers in California are overrepresented in occupations that do not pay a family-sustaining wage*

*“Family-sustaining wage” is based on the MIT living wage calculator for California (https://livingwage.mit.edu).
Note: Sample is restricted to all full-time state employees. Wages were calculated using the American Community Survey 2016-2020, then brought up to 2022 using employee cost index for public employees. Demographic data is from the California Department of Human Resources. Some occupations have a small number of observations. All n>20.

 

Black and Latino state workers in California are overrepresented in occupations that do not pay a family-sustaining wage*

*“Family-sustaining wage” is based on the MIT living wage calculator for California (https://livingwage.mit.edu).
Note: Sample is restricted to all full-time state employees. Wages were calculated using the American Community Survey 2016-2020, then brought up to 2022 using employee cost index for public employees. Demographic data is from the California Department of Human Resources. Some occupations have a small number of observations. All n>20.
“Other” category includes white, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American and workers who identify as multiracial.

 

Overall, in 2022 ,the median wages of state employees in eight out of twenty-two occupations were not sufficient ($30 an hour is the threshold based on the MIT living wage calculator) to cover a basic family budget. By comparing these occupational median hourly wages to the racial and gender composition of the different occupations, we find both women and people of color are overrepresented in the lower-wage occupations.

• Women are overrepresented in five of the eight occupations in state government that pay median wages below a living wage for a family of 4 with 2 working adults.
• Black workers are overrepresented in five out of eight occupations in state government that pay median wages below a living wage for a two-income family of four .
• Hispanic workers are overrepresented in six out of eight occupations in state government that pay median wages below a living wage for a two-income family of four.

 

Conclusion

State workers perform essential jobs that serve their communities and generate economic activity that contributes to the growth of the state economy. The state government has close to a quarter of a million employees, almost half of whom are women and almost two-thirds of whom are workers of color. But across occupations and throughout the state, many state workers earn well below what is needed to attain a decent standard of living in California. As an employer, the state’s provision of wages that are insufficient to support a decent standard of living has severe negative effects on the economic security of state workers and their families, and exacerbates the persistent gender and racial wage and wealth gaps. As we build a post-pandemic future in the state, there is an urgent need for higher wages and pay parity, to ensure that the economic recovery will lead to shared prosperity and higher living standards for all Californians, including its government workers.

Methods and Sources

Calculations for graphs 1-3 are based on California State Controller payroll data for SEIU Local 1000 members. The sample is restricted to full-time employees. Hourly wages were calculated by dividing the employee's total annual salary by 2080. Affordability thresholds by county were determined by the MIT Living Wage Calculator.[4][5] Each worker’s wages were compared to the living wage threshold by family type for their home county.

Geospatial data to map affordability by county was accessed through the “tigris” package in R.[6] The “counties()” command downloads TIGER/Line shapefiles from the U.S. Census Bureau according to the specified geography.[7] Full-time workers were sorted into their home county, where affordability thresholds were determined by the county-specific MIT Living Wage Calculator for California.

The gender and racial analysis relies on data from the American Community Survey 2016-2020 5-year sample. The ACS sample is restricted to workers with non-zero earnings in the past year, who were not self-employed or unpaid family workers, and who worked full time. For this analysis the ACS sample was restricted to state employees in California. The ACS does not include an hourly earnings measure; we therefore follow standard practice and construct the hourly wage measure by dividing the worker’s annual earnings by the product of usual hours worked per week and weeks worked last year. The ACS annual earnings variable includes wages, salary, commissions, and cash bonuses or tips from all jobs, before tax deductions. We trimmed hourly wage outliers by dropping wages less than $0.50 or greater than $100 in 1989 dollars[8].

From December 5th, 2022, to January 10th, 2023, the UCLA Labor Center interviewed twelve SEIU 1000 members to discuss their experiences working as public servants and the economic challenges that have arisen over the past few years. The workers that were interviewed came from multiple cities and job classifications. Topics that were discussed included overall job satisfaction, the way they’ve been coping as the cost of living continues to increase, and the impact that Covid-19 has had on their workplace.

Endnotes

[1] SEIU Local 1000 represents 9 of the 21 state bargaining units.

[2] Glasmeier, Amy K. Living Wage Calculator. 2023. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. livingwage.mit.edu

[3] California Department of Human Resources, 2020 Report on Women’s Earnings in California State Civil Service Classifications

[4] https://livingwage.mit.edu/

[5] In the MIT living wage model, health related expenditures are calculated based on household size and region for private sector employees. According to the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-IC, total annual health insurance premium contributions for state and local government workers are lower than for workers employed in the private sector. Therefore, living wages for state workers might be overestimated due to this discrepancy. However, calculations of living wages present a minimum subsistence wage and do not budget funds for planning for the future through emergency or retirement savings.

[6] https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/tigris/index.html

[7] https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.html

[8] This step follows the methodology from: Economic Policy Institute, “Methodology for Measuring Wages and Benefits,” State of Working America Data Library, February 21, 2019, https://www.epi.org/data/methodology/.