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.
Jesse Bedayn
Posted inPandemic Life
‘I don’t recognize myself anymore’; How the pandemic drowned a working mom in debt
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.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
Few working poor get to vote on unions. Can California change that?
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.
Posted inCOVID Today
Mothers struggle to return to work as California reopens
Moms who lost their jobs during the pandemic are still shouldering most of the child care.