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Low Wage Workers Make Gains in Struggling California Economy

By Alison St John / Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published September 3, 2007 at 5:55 AM PDT
This story was published more than 17 years ago.

The only good economic news for California workers is for those at the very bottom of the labor market heap. That’s according to analysis by a labor research center at UC Berkeley. KPBS reporter Alis

Low Wage Workers Make Gains in Struggling California Economy

The only good economic news for California workers is for those at the very bottom of the labor market heap. That’s according to analysis by a labor research center at UC Berkeley. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Job growth slowed last year in California, mainly because of the slowdown in construction -- there were 12,000 fewer construction jobs. Plus U.C.  Berkley’s Center for Labor Research show unemployment rose to over 5 percent and the value of real wages fell in California, even as real wages rose slightly in the nation as a whole.

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Analyst Arindrajit Dube says the prognosis for wage increases next year is poor.  

Dube: And particularly for California for the coming year in terms of  the wages and purchasing power of working Americans does not look terribly good, but there is a silver lining here, and that silver lining has to do with those at the very bottom of the market.

Dube says low wage workers who have been the hardest hit in the economic down-turn  after 2001 are finally showing some gains.

Dube: So after four years in a row of declines, real wages rose at the very bottom.

Dube says increases in the state’s minimum wage from $6.65 to $7.50  is the reason.

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He says in general, wages grew faster than productivity last year, but there is some wiggle room for wages to grow because earlier  productivity gains  were funneled into corporate profits.

Alison St John, KPBS news.

Alison St John
Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.
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