BY NEAL SACHAROW
UCLA Today
California’s labor market experienced a dramatic shift
during the last decade toward job polarization. Workers in the
new jobs created during this period found themselves at opposite
ends of the wage scale, according to a new report released by
the UC Institute for Labor and Employment (ILE), headquartered
at UCLA.
This trend and other key challenges
facing the state’s massive workforce are examined in “The
State of California Labor 2002.” Researchers looked at
more than 1,000 job categories, ranging from domestic workers
to engineers. Pay rates ranged from $6.58 per hour to $27.33
per hour.
“Much has been said about
the new economy as an engine of job creation,” said ILE
Director and UCLA Professor Ruth Milkman. “But when we
examined the quality of the jobs generated during the 1990s
— using earnings as the measure of quality — we
found extensive growth in both good and bad jobs, but very little
growth in the middle.”
The report also analyzes the impact
of the recession on California labor; the conditions workers
face across occupational groups; the views Californians have
about the wide range of public policy issues; and trends in
labor law enforcement and labor relations.
Researchers found some surprising
regional economic and political differences. During the 1990s
boom, most of the new jobs created in Los Angeles fell into
the low-quality range in contrast to the growth of high-quality
jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area. The L.A. area experienced
only moderate growth in high-tech jobs, while high-tech occupations
accounted for the vast majority of job growth in the Bay Area.
Regional differences don’t
stop there. Looking at workers’ attitudes, researchers
found more concern in the Southland than in the north about
the gap between the rich and poor, partly because of the huge
concentration of low-wage workers in the Los Angeles area, they
said.
Southern Californians also showed stronger support for enhancing
government’s role in addressing that gap and were more
pro-union than their counterparts elsewhere in the state.
For the full report: http://www.ucop.edu/ile/
