Barriers to quality, empowered jobs for working people in the Bay Area endanger the future of our economy.

Black and Native American workers in particular face persistent obstacles to getting and keeping good jobs, and Black workers were slowest to recover following pandemic job hits. While employment rates fail to show the quality of jobs workers have, the racial disparities in this simple measure are still dramatic: in the Bay Area white adults are 9 percent more likely than Black adults and 15 percent more likely than Native American adults to be employed.

Not all job creation is good job creation.

In the Bay Area, middle-wage job growth has long lagged behind (22 percent from 1990-2021), stranding many workers of color in low-paying jobs with few opportunities for advancement. Improving job quality and protections for all workers in all sectors is essential for building a more equitable and sustainable regional economy.

Economic growth should benefit all workers and communities.

Bay Area decision-makers have implemented economic policies that created unprecedented wealth in our region for those in the highest wage jobs, at the expense of those in low and middle wage jobs.

The incomes of the highest-earning workers in the area has increased by almost 70 percent since 1980, while earned income has declined by 9 percent over the same period for those in the lowest-paid jobs.

Worker power is the only time-tested, scalable strategy to create family sustaining jobs.

Pandemic-era worker organizing has shifted employer practices and improved job quality for some of the most marginalized workers. Strengthening unions and other forms of organizing that build collective power among working people is essential to improving job quality, and can increase the availability of a skilled workforce. Native American and Black workers in the Bay Area are most likely to belong to unions. But overall, more than five out of six workers in the region are not protected by union membership.

Check out The Union Effect in California report by UC Berkeley for more on how unions affect the lives of all working people in California.

Eliminating barriers to employment and closing racial wage gaps could boost the region’s economy by more than 50 percent.

The Bay Area is at a crossroads. We can either double down on the inequitable economic and employment trends of the past 40 years, or reimagine an economy that is powered by the full collective potential of our region. In 2020 alone, employment and wage inequities cost the nine-county region’s economy an estimated $516 billion in unrealized GDP.

The Bay Area becomes more diverse every year. Economic opportunity does not.

About 60 percent of the region’s residents are people of color. Diversity and inclusion must be cornerstones for a thriving Bay Area future.

Educational attainment is an important contributor to economic freedom. Persistent racial inequities in education must be eliminated.

Region-wide, 51 percent of adults have at least a bachelor’s degree, though access to educational attainment varies across communities. In the Bay Area, 3 out of 5 white and Asian American adults have at least a bachelor’s degree, while only 1 out of 5 Latinx, Pacific Islander or Native American adults has a four-year degree.

The Bay Area economy is controlled by those who benefit the most from the status quo; inequities preserve political power for the few.

On average, white workers in the region are paid about 21 percent more than the Bay Area’s median wage. White immigrant workers earn almost $45/hour, 49 percent more than the overall median wage, while US-born Black and Latinx workers are paid about 25 percent less than the median. At $17/hour, Latinx immigrants are paid the lowest median wages in the region: 43 percent below the overall median.

How much you get paid determines how much you can afford; only 62 percent of working people in the Bay Area can afford basic family living expenses.

Only 50 percent of Black, 39 percent of Pacific Islander and 35 percent of Latinx full-time working people in the region are paid enough to cover the cost of living for a family of four with two full-time working adults, compared to 74 percent of their white counterparts.

Working people of color continue to be concentrated in lower-wage jobs.

Black and Latinx working people are crowded in occupations that tend to offer lower quality jobs, while white and Asian American working people are overrepresented in several high-paying fields.

White workers make up 38 percent of the region’s overall workforce, but 54 percent of those in management jobs. Conversely, Latinx workers are 23 percent of the overall workforce, but 43 percent of those in food preparation and serving jobs.

Quality, empowered jobs are critical, but everyone must be able to compete for them.

Across all racial groups, labor force participation is highest for male-identifying people. Among female-identifying people, the gap is largest between Native American adults (60 percent labor force participation) and Mixed/other (76 percent). Among male-identifying people, the largest gap is between Native American adults (70 percent) and Asian American counterparts (88 percent).

To ensure all people have access to quality jobs, systemic and structural changes are needed that address bias in hiring and the inequitable availability of child care, transportation, and housing.

The lack of Bay Area housing affordability is both a driver and a result of inequities in the Bay Area economy.

People of color, especially women of color, shoulder the greatest burden of the lack of affordable housing in the Bay Area. Outrageous housing costs and unlivable wages force too many families to choose between paying rent, paying for other essential needs, or moving out of their communities. Across the region, 66 percent of renter households headed by Black women are rent-burdened, by far the highest rate among any racial/ethnic and gender group.

Many Bay Area working people face extremely long and expensive commutes resulting in less take-home pay, higher child care costs, and lower quality of life.

High housing costs in areas where jobs are concentrated mean that low-income workers who rely on public transit have the longest average commutes in the Bay Area. About 7 percent of Black and Native American workers spend 90 minutes or more traveling to work, one way. All workers deserve access to safe and affordable transportation with a reasonable commute time, and shorter commutes are better for the climate.

Health care access continues to look very different across races and ethnicities.

Safe and healthy working people means healthy families and thriving businesses. Yet about one in ten Latinx and Native American residents in the region do not have health insurance — five times the rate of their white counterparts.

For a diverse, prosperous and equitable future, our political leaders must reflect the Bay Area community.

People of color are not equitably represented in high-level elected offices, contributing to political and economic power imbalances. Across the region, people of color are 62 percent of the population but hold just 37 percent of high-level elected offices. Increased economic and political power in communities of color can lead to a Bay Area that works for all of us.