This report is the first in-depth look at the labor market for agricultural truck drivers in California and the first study of this workforce anywhere in the U.S. in almost 30 years. It found that better efforts in recruiting and training drivers would ease turnover and improve job satisfaction, particularly for agricultural trucking, which is critical to California’s economy but can often be seasonal or require specialized equipment.

This report provides the first in-depth look at the labor market for agricultural truck drivers in California and the first study of this workforce anywhere in the U.S. in almost 30 years. It finds that, while there is not a shortage of people interested in truck driving, the industry faces challenges with retaining drivers, with turnover being especially high for long-haul drivers.

A study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center finds that union members are more likely to be women and people of color than 20 years ago.

Chartbook comparing California union membership and coverage from 2001-2002 and 2021-2022. Findings show that at least half of all of California’s 2.5 million union members are women and that the majority of all union workers are people of color. By contrast, 20 years ago the typical union member in California was a white man.

Union membership today is different than a generation ago. It’s not your grandfather’s union anymore.

In this brief I review the evidence of how airport minimum labor standards promote safety and security.

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, 56 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.

In this brief we estimate the new costs to the state resulting from SB 525 as well as the savings it would generate through reductions in safety net program enrollment of affected workers and their family members.

A new UC Berkeley Labor Center policy brief finds that the state cost of a proposed $25/hr minimum wage for health workers would be offset through reduced safety net spending on those workers and their families.

Passage of AB 2257 has caused only minor changes in coverage of the ABC test under AB 5.

A new UC Berkeley Labor Center report looking at pre-pandemic data in the San Francisco East Bay area shows that many workers and their families struggled to make ends meet even before COVID hit.

This report examines the state of work in the East Bay prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that even before the pandemic, when the economy was strong by conventional economic metrics and had recovered from the Great Recession, many East Bay workers were earning low wages, housing cost-burdened, and struggling to make ends meet, with workers of color in particular making wages too low to support themselves and their families.

Despite being applauded for their essential role and dedication during the COVID pandemic, many low-wage health care workers struggle to make ends meet. A recent UC Berkeley Labor Center Study study looks at what a proposal before the California State Legislature to raise the health care minimum wage to $25 an hour would mean for workers, patients, and industry.

This report shows that the proposed California Senate Bill No. 525 (SB 525), which would establish a new $25 per hour minimum wage for health care employees, has the potential to substantially improve conditions for low-wage health care workers that provide essential services to the state, ameliorate staffing shortages in the industry, and improve quality of care.

A new Labor Center report looks at the impacts of a proposal to raise the health care minimum wage in California to $25 an hour.

The California 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.

A report released today by the UC Berkeley Labor Center finds that many workers essential to keeping the state running and providing crucial services are struggling to make ends meet.

UPDATED MARCH 1, 2023. Compilation of living wage and self-sufficiency calculators that provide data on California.

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.

This blog post outlines the assistance offered by the recently-established Child Care Providers United California Workers Health Care Fund, summarizes recent findings from a David Binder Research/ California Health Care Foundation survey that underscore the need for this new health care investment for family child care providers, and discusses how the program will improve affordability for providers and benefit California as a whole.