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California Workers' Rights: A Manual of Job Rights, Protections and Remedies

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Sara Hinkley

California’s public sector staffing crisis

Until the state can make much-needed improvements to its property and commercial tax structure, officials will continue to propose drastic service cuts. Eliminating or freezing vacant positions in state and local budget processes may be a convenient way to cut expenses, but without substantive staffing analysis the impact of leaving those positions empty could pose a severe burden on existing staff, Californians, and the economy.

Savannah Hunter,Sara Hinkley,Adriana Hernandez CastanedaandEnrique Lopezlira

Civil Service Vacancies in California: 2022–2023

We find that job vacancies in local government appear to be a widespread and significant problem for the public sector affecting a wide range of occupations across wage levels and educational requirements. We offer suggested policy solutions raised by subject matter experts and other reports and analyses on job vacancy challenges in local government.

Nari Rhee

Public Pensions Support Race, Class, and Gender Equity in California

This report finds that public pensions play an outsized role in the retirement security of every major demographic group in California, with the strongest impact on women and people of color. It is also a powerful tool for reducing wealth inequality. As private pension coverage declines, public pensions remain a critical bulwark of middle-class retirement security alongside Social Security, particularly for marginalized communities who have been historically shut out of other wealth-building opportunities.

Nari Rhee

Closing the Gap: The Role of Public Pensions in Reducing Retirement Inequality

This study analyzes the impact of defined benefit pensions, especially public pensions, on retirement income security and wealth distribution by race, gender, and educational attainment in the U.S. It serves as a companion report to Closing the Gap fact sheets, which are designed to inform the public about the social equity impact of pensions in each state and the District of Columbia.

Aida Farmand,Tynan Challenor,Savannah Hunter,Enrique LopezliraandKen Jacobs

State workers struggle to make ends meet throughout California; Women, Black, and Latino workers are disproportionately affected

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.

Nari Rhee

Marin Public Pension Series – Brief #3: How public pensions support race and gender equity

This brief analyzes the impact of public sector employment and defined-benefit pensions on race and gender equity in retirement income security in Marin County and California. Public pensions play an outsized role in the retirement security of every racial group, particularly in Black and Latino communities, and pension income provides a critical buffer against economic hardship in old age for all groups, especially women, Black and Latino Californians, and seniors without college degrees.

Nari Rhee

Understanding Public Pensions in Sonoma County

This brief examines pension benefits for public servants in Sonoma County in terms of their role in employee compensation, the evolving financial status of pension systems, the impact of pension reform on costs, and how different pension systems in the county and surrounding Bay Area region stack up against each other in terms of protection from inflation during retirement.

Sara Hinkley

Technology in the public sector and the future of government work

This report explores how governments use technology, what drives technology adoption, and how technologies affect public sector workers and the delivery of public services. Using examples across local, state, and federal governments, the report finds that transparency and accountability have lagged behind rapid technology adoption in the wake of COVID-19, and that public sector workers play a critical role in ensuring that technology is used to strengthen the ability of governments to provide quality and equitable public services.

Sara Hinkley

Evaluating the Impact of Proposed Changes to Oakland’s Gross Receipts Tax

In this post we evaluate the possible economic impacts of a proposed restructuring of Oakland’s Gross Receipts Tax, including an evaluation of job impact estimates made by the task force consultant—Blue Sky Consulting Group—and research on what factors affect business location and expansion. We also discuss the importance of strengthening the city’s revenue base to support Oakland’s continued recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of improving public services to support business growth and retention.

Sara Hinkley

California can’t afford to repeat the Great Recession: State spending is critical to economic recovery

California’s 2021-22 budget will have an enormous impact on the nature of California’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Governor’s 2021-22 budget proposal would restore some critical funding for public health and education, but it will not be sufficient to get California’s economy and low-income Californians back on track. To avoid a prolonged economic downturn, and further damage to California’s most vulnerable residents, California needs to make a much more significant investment in the drivers of economic growth.

Sara Hinkley

What comes next? Janus v. AFSCME

Berkeley Blog post. Although the short-term effect of today’s decision is to throw 17 million public sector workers into uncertainty, it is also possible that Janus v. AFSCME will serve as a turning point for both a reinvigorated politics of labor and a revitalized conversation about the importance of the public sector to our social compact. Both our economy and our democracy depend on what happens next.