FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 17, 2022
Media Contact:   Heather Hansen
Humanity Communications Collective
Heather@humanitycom.com
410-991-4444

PANDEMIC ‘RETURN TO NORMAL’ WILL EXACERBATE INCOME AND ECONOMIC DISPARITIES ACROSS THE BAY AREA

A new look at data from ReWork the Bay and partners aims to inform policymakers and funders

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Continuing their work developing solutions that improve life for all working people, the regional initiative ReWork the Bay unveiled a new interactive data tool today designed to inform policymakers of work and income disparities across the nine-county Bay Area. 

ReWork the Bay’s cross-sector Equity at Work Council partnered with the Bay Area Equity Atlas to tell a more nuanced story about how workers are faring in the Bay Area. The result was The State of Bay Area Workers,  a first-of-its-kind data tool that offers a well-rounded picture of disparities in work and workers for each Bay Area county and the region as a whole. The tool is intended to enable partners and funders to make informed decisions about strategy, policy and practices that lead to needed changes. 

“The biggest surprise in this data was how earned income has grown by nearly 70% for very high-wage workers in the last 30 years and shrunk by 9% for very low-wage workers,”  said Rob Hope, Director of ReWork the Bay. “This tells such a clear and compelling story of who has benefited from the wealth generated by the Bay Area’s booming economy–and makes a case for why a return to normal in the Bay Area is the last thing our workers need.”

“The data also shows us how simple indicators like unemployment rates tell a fraction of the story and can often obscure the reality of the majority of working people, especially women and people of color,” Hope added. “Finally, it shows that we cannot ignore the interconnectedness of issues like housing and health care with income and other work-related disparities. To realize the prosperous future that so many of us seek for our region, we have to let go of issue silos and start developing solutions that mirror the complexity of working people’s lives.”

The data tool was created alongside a series of recommendations made last year in the Advancing Workforce Equity in the Bay Area: A Blueprint for Action report, several of which ReWork the Bay and their partners are now implementing. Users of the data tool can examine key indicators across the Bay Area and drill down to each of the nine counties represented. 

Key takeaways from the data tool include:

• Eliminating barriers to employment and closing racial wage gaps could boost the region’s economy by more than 50 percent.
• The incomes of the highest-earning workers in the area have 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.
• In much of the Bay Area, job creation has been concentrated in high- and low-wage jobs over the past few decades, with the impact of the pandemic on job creation still unclear.
• Only 55 percent of working people in the Bay Area can afford basic family living expenses.

ReWork the Bay is a project hosted by the San Francisco Foundation that brings together leaders in economic justice, education, business and philanthropy to take bold, urgent action to create a prosperous Bay Area for all. 

We are in the second week of Women’s History Month. A time to have some focused attention on the many contributions women have made, and continue to make, in our society.

And while strides have been taken toward a society that fully values the contributions, ideas and needs of women, we must continue to do better.

As the pandemic was just hitting, The World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Report found that progress toward closing the gender pay gap has stalled, and that at this rate it will take 100 years to achieve equality between men and women.

The pandemic has exacerbated barriers for women in the workplace, with about 2.5 million women having lost their jobs or dropped out of the workforce. Job loss, small business closings and a lack of child care have created a perfect storm for women workers. Women who work in industries such as hospitality and health care — many who are living below the federal poverty level — have been hit hardest. These workers, many of them women of color, have been undervalued and underpaid for too long.

So what can we do? At ReWork the Bay our goal is to bring people together to work on collective solutions that provide economic mobility, promote shared prosperity, and ensure that there are quality jobs that center workers. As economic recovery plans are implemented and stimulus dollars start flowing, we look to support elected officials, community and business leaders in ensuring those policies and resources benefit Bay Area workers who have not historically benefited from our region’s immense prosperity. Examples of the strategies we will be advancing are featured in the recently released Advancing Workforce Equity in the Bay Area report.

Silvia Federici is a 78-year-old scholar and theorist of domestic labor and one of the most influential socialist feminist thinkers of the last century. In the NY Times article linked below she shares that when imagining the possibility of a truly just world, that she has hope and that she believes in…” The creativity of nature. And of people. I am very excited about people. There is really a lot of beauty, generosity, courage, my God. There is still joy, I see it — there is still a lot of beauty in this world. And I hope it prevails over those who only want to control and tear it apart.”

I hope so too. I would love to hear what you think. Email me by clicking the button below.

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