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

Barriers to family-sustaining jobs for working people in the Bay Area have made our economy unsustainable, and the official unemployment rate only tells a small part of the story. Black people in particular face persistent obstacles to getting and keeping good jobs. In Sonoma County, white and Latinx adults are 14 percent more likely than their Black peers to be employed.

Not all job creation is good job creation.

In Sonoma County, job growth has been greatest among low-wage occupations (46 percent from 1990-2021), though moderate growth has also been shown in middle- and high-wage jobs. Improving job quality and protections for all workers in all sectors remains 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 Sonoma County has increased by 32 percent since 1990, while earned income has declined by 8 percent for both low-wage and middle-wage workers.

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. In the Bay Area, 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.

Eliminating barriers to employment and closing racial wage gaps could boost Sonoma County’s economy by more than 15 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 barriers and pay inequities cost Sonoma County’s economy an estimated $5 billion in unrealized GDP.

Sonoma County becomes more diverse every year, though it lags behind the region as a whole.

About 39 percent of Sonoma County residents are people of color, up from 10 percent in 1980. 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 34 percent of those in Sonoma County. Just 14 percent of Latinx adults in Sonoma County have a four-year degree, compared to 41 percent of white adults and 52 percent of their Asian American counterparts.

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 Sonoma County are paid about 17 percent more than the County’s median wage, while Latinx workers are paid 30 percent less than the median. Latinx immigrants in particular are paid the lowest median wages in the County at $14/hour (almost 39 percent below the overall median).

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

Only 60 percent of Asian Americans and 38 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 73 percent of their white counterparts.

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

In Sonoma County, Latinx workers make up 28 percent of the overall workforce, but 65 percent of those in building and grounds cleaning and maintenance jobs and only 14 percent of those in management jobs.

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

Across all racial groups, labor force participation is higher for male-identifying people. Among female-identifying people, the gap is largest between multiracial and Latinx workers (69 percent and 76 percent labor force participation, respectively). Among male-identifying people, the largest gap is between Asian American adults (80 percent) and their Latinx counterparts (89 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, 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 Sonoma County, 62 percent of renter households headed by Latina women are rent-burdened.

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. Not only are shorter commutes better for workers, they are also better for communities and the environment.

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

Safe and healthy working people means healthy families and thriving businesses. Yet fewer than one in eight Latinx residents in Sonoma County do not have health insurance — four 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. In Sonoma County, people of color are 37 percent of the population but only hold 17 percent of the 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.