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.

Across the country, cities and counties have become laboratories of policy innovation on labor standards. Before 2012, only five localities had minimum wage laws; currently, 65 counties and cities do. To help inform policymakers and other stakeholders, the UC Berkeley Labor Center is maintaining an up-to-date inventory of these laws, with details on wage levels, scheduled increases, and other law details, as well as links to the ordinances.

Supporting early educators and expanding childcare access isn’t just morally right—it’s smart economic policy. Higher wages, stable programs, and affordable care options strengthen families and unlock economic potential across generations.

Our Low-Wage Work in California Data Explorer offers disaggregated data by regional subgroup for AAPI workers, showing important differences across occupation, gender, and nativity status within this diverse group.

Our report assesses the impact of AB 1228 by estimating how eligibility for Medi-Cal might change for workers covered under this law. From this, we also estimate potential reductions in federal and state Medi-Cal spending.

A proposed ordinance in the Chicago City Council would set minimum standards for transportation network driver compensation. In this brief we analyze drivers’ earnings in Chicago under current law, and what drivers would earn under the proposed policy.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential impacts of consolidating collective bargaining for California’s In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) providers from the county level to the state or regional level.

Archive tables of California city and county minimum wage rates.

Our minimum wage and living wage tools and resources includes our Inventory of US City and County Minimum Wage Ordinances and a table of current local minimum wages in California.

California is home to the largest population of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) in the country. To better understand the social and economic forces affecting low-wage AIAN workers in the state, our Low-Wage Work in California Data Explorer includes analysis on this group.

This report provides an overview of the working conditions and characteristics of public school food service workers, in comparison to other relevant workers in public schools and other food service workers.

The Data Explorer shows that workers of color, women, and immigrants are overrepresented among the 5.6 million workers paid a low wage. A clear understanding of these demographic patterns in low-wage work is essential to addressing economic inequality in the state. 

The interactive data explorer provides comprehensive data on the state’s low-wage workforce, including demographics, job characteristics, industries, occupations, use of public assistance programs, and geography. It also provides users with graphics, tables, research summaries, interactive visualizations, and downloadable data.

Who is paid low wages in California? The UC Berkeley Labor Center just updated its Low-Wage Work in California Data Explorer, which provides a wide range of data on the state’s 5.6 million workers who are paid low wages.

Inventory of state and local laws that set higher minimum wages and other wage-related standards for specific industries.

This study of gig passenger and delivery driver earnings in the Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay, and Seattle metros finds the typical drivers earned less than the applicable minimum wage in all five metros.

This research note evaluates the impact of PLAs on the costs of affordable housing construction projects under Proposition HHH in Los Angeles, making it a critical case study given the city’s efforts to address homelessness.

This brief analyzes the impact SB 525 is projected to have on workers, patients, and the state budget in the first year of the policy. It is an update of our June 2023 and April 2023 briefs, both of which analyzed preliminary versions of the bill.

Data and methods appendix to the brief “California health care minimum wage: New estimates for impacts on workers, patients, and the state budget.”