California Divide

California’s official unemployment rate is 7.5%. But a newer method of measuring unemployment reveals a far larger portion of the state is struggling to find full-time employment that pays enough to cover the cost of living.

Commercial real estate agent Maybelle Manio is one of many middle-class Californians who found themselves financially stranded by the pandemic. The 42-year-old commercial real estate agent turned to public support for the first time in her life.

Frente a una asombrosa brecha económica, California sugiere aumentar la participación sindical entre los trabajadores con salarios bajos, y señala que una membresía sindical reduce la pobreza laboral mejor que un título universitario. Pero lograr que más trabajadores voten por los sindicatos requerirá que las empresas y los sindicatos se comprometan.

Facing a staggering wealth gap, California suggests increasing union participation among low-wage workers, noting that a union membership reduces working poverty better than a college degree. But getting more workers to vote on unions will require businesses and unions to compromise. Recent efforts have stalled but the stakes are higher than ever as a court overturns Prop. 22 and the Teamsters begin to campaign at Amazon warehouses across the state.

Faced with business opposition, a state lawmaker fails to deliver on a pledge to require companies to report COVID outbreaks publicly. Supporters vow to fight for transparency in the name of public health and workplace safety.

California’s high cost of housing and child care are creating such a burden on working families that millions of households don’t make enough to meet their most basic necessities. The United Ways of California, which put out the study, advocates for expanding eligibility so assistance doesn’t fall off just as families attain economic stability.

Read this article in English. Los líderes locales de la ciudad dicen que  Proyecto Homekey  ha sido un éxito en Fresno, hubo refugio a aproximadamente 1,500 personas durante los últimos 18 meses. Los fondos no solo ayudaron a albergar a los residentes sin vivienda de la ciudad, sino que también brindaron la oportunidad de invertir en la […]

As California’s reparations committee embarks on a two-year process to study the harms of slavery and systemic racism, task force members will confront how a single state, which never formally sanctioned slavery, can make amends. During the first meeting, members openly grappled with whether reparations should mean direct payments or long-term investments, such as education and housing, to boost African American households.

California has an opportunity to leverage surplus and stimulus funds to bridge income inequality. Our dashboard from the California Divide team tracks whether the state can turn the tide.

Maya and her girlfriend count themselves lucky to have received rent relief through the federal CARES Act. Now the pressure is on the recent graduate to get hired and stay on top of rent.