Wednesday, April 29, 2020

California's Pandemic Response Will Further Enrich Its Elites, Hurt Poor

Like the rest of the country, although far less than New York, California is suffering through the Covid-19 crisis.

The pandemic seems likely to give the state's political and corporate elites a new license to increase their dominion while continuing to keep the middle and working classes down.

Over the past decade, according to Chapman University's Marshall Toplansky, the vast majority of jobs being produced in California pay under the median wage, and 40% pay under $40,000 a year.

Over the past decade, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, California has fallen into the bottom half of states in manufacturing-sector employment growth, ranking 44th last year; its industrial new job creation has been negative, compared with gains from competitors such as Nevada, Kentucky, Michigan, and Florida.

Even without adjusting for costs, no California metro ranks in the U.S. top ten in terms of well-paying blue-collar jobs; but four metro areas-Ventura, Los Angeles, San Jose, and San Diego-sit among the bottom ten.

Nearly one in five Californians-many who are working-lives in poverty, the highest rate of any state; the Public Policy Institute of California estimates that another 20% live in near-poverty-roughly 15 million people in total.

More than half of all California Latino households, now a plurality in the state, can barely pay their bills, according to a United Way study.


https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/29/californias-pandemic-response-will-further-enrich-its-elites-at-the-expense-of-the-working-and-middle-class/

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