Everyone who wants to work should have quality, empowered jobs.

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 still exist. For example, in Contra Costa County, Black adults are 3 to 5 percent less likely to be employed than any other group.

The public sector has historically been a source of good jobs for workers of color. Contra Costa County tracks and reports on diversity goals in their public workforce. View their 2020 report.

Not all job creation is good job creation.

In Contra Costa County, middle-wage job growth continues to be strong (49 percent from 1990-2021), a positive sign for economic mobility from lower-wage jobs. However, growth in high-wage jobs has lagged. 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. Pay for the highest-earning workers in Contra Costa County has increased by 39 percent since 1990, while earned income has declined by 14 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.

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 Contra Costa County’s economy by more than 25 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 Contra Costa County’s economy an estimated $22 billion in unrealized GDP.

Contra Costa County becomes more diverse every year. Economic opportunity does not.

About 58 percent of Contra Costa County residents are people of color. This diversity can be a cornerstone of a thriving Bay Area economy, if children, families, and working people of color are allowed to reach their full potential.

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, compared to just 43 percent of those in Contra Costa County. In Contra Costa County, more than half of white adults have at least a bachelor’s degree, while only one in six Latinx adults and one third of Black adults has a four-year degree.

For more data on post-secondary education in Contra Costa County, check out California Competes’ Postsecondary to Prosperity Dashboard.

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

White workers in Contra Costa, on average, are paid about 21 percent more than the County’s median wage, while Black and US-born Latinx workers are paid about 20 percent and 17 percent respectively less than the median. At $17/hour, Latinx immigrants are paid the lowest median wages in the County — 41 percent below the overall median.

How much you get paid determines how much you can afford; only 61 percent of working people in Contra Costa County can afford basic family living expenses.

Only 51 percent of Black and 37 percent of Latinx full-time working people in the County 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 working people are overrepresented in several high-paying fields.

White workers make up 42 percent of the region’s overall workforce, but 57 percent of those in management jobs. Conversely, Latinx workers are 26 percent of the overall workforce, but 44 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 in Contra Costa County, labor force participation is highest for male-identifying people. Among female-identifying people, the gap is largest between Latina adults (70 percent labor force participation) and Black adults 78 percent). Among male-identifying people, the largest gap is between Black adults (81 percent) and their Asian American and Latinx counterparts (both at 89 percent).

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

People of color, and 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. In Contra Costa County, 72 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 one in ten Latinx residents in Contra Costa County 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 in Contra Costa County, contributing to political and economic power imbalances. Latinx residents are 26 percent of the county’s population and Asian or Pacific Islander residents are 18 percent, but these groups are not represented in 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.