UC Berkeley Labor Center

10/20/2026

Join us on October 29 at noon to discuss what it would take to bring good manufacturing jobs to the Bay Area. Register now! https://berkeley.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gRpA5d0OTiKEYNjFou2guw #/registration

10/16/2026

We’ve updated our Low-Wage Work in California Data Explorer. The 2026 Explorer provides a comprehensive look at low-wage work across the state. Explore data on demographics, industries and occupations, wages and job quality, economic security, affordability and the cost of living, geography, and more. Find charts, research findings, and downloadable data about California’s workforce in one place. Find out more on our website: https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/low-wage-work-in-california-data-explorer-2026/

10/15/2026

Not all manufacturing jobs are good jobs. It takes intentional policy to bring good jobs to the Bay Area.

10/08/2026

Employers are increasingly using digital technologies to monitor workers, measure their performance, assign tasks and schedules, set the pace of work, and inform decisions about pay, discipline, and termination. Taken together, the concern is that these tools tilt the balance of power further toward employers, who can use "bossware" to tighten control, intensify work, and extract more value from workers, even at the expense of safety and workplace dignity.
Read a new report authored with Center on Policy Initiatives, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, Working Partnerships USA, Power Switch Action, UC Berkeley Labor Center, and UCLA Labor Center.

This report features research from Center on Policy Initiatives, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, Working Partnerships USA, PowerSwitch Action, UC Berkeley Labor Center, and UCLA Labor Center.

10/02/2026

Big news in Labor.

“This is a breakthrough moment in tech policy,” Annette Bernhardt, Senior Tech Policy Advisor at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, tells me. “Right now, it’s the Wild West when it comes to how employers use electronic monitoring and algorithmic management, because there are literally no rules of the road. For sure there’s much more to be done to build out a robust set of worker technology rights for the 21st-century labor market, but California’s unions have put the first big stake in the ground.”

Finally, some good news

09/30/2026

Almost 1 in 10 jobs in the Bay Area is in the manufacturing sector. But are these good jobs? For most blue-collar workers, the answer is no: their median wage is only $24.50; less than a third of production workers in the Bay Area are paid a living wage. The impact of poor wages is especially felt by workers of color and immigrants, who make up the vast majority of all production workers in the region. Read more in our new report "Making it in the Bay," which provides a comprehensive analysis of the Bay Area’s manufacturing labor market. https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/making-it-in-the-bay/

As policymakers and others consider strategies to promote manufacturing in the Bay Area, it is essential to take into account job quality and equity challenges in the sector. Good jobs don’t happen by accident: creating quality jobs requires intentional strategies to grow a high-road sector that supports long-term investments in workers and labor-management partnership. Learn more about high-road strategies to grow manufacturing in the Bay Area through our work with the Bay Area High Road Manufacturing Initiative (https://wpusa.org/bahrmi/)

Working Partnerships USA, California Labor Federation, New Energy Nexus, Working Partnerships USA

An overview of job quality and equity in existing manufacturing employment in the Bay Area, identifying challenges and strategies for cultivating a high-road manufacturing sector.

09/29/2026

Webinar: "Understanding How AI Impacts Worker Health and Safety," on Wed, October 7, 2026, 12-1 PT.
A discussion of AI in the workplace looking at recent laws, worker experiences and a conceptual framework for safety professionals. By UC Berkeley LOHP and COEH.

About the webinar: Corporations are spending billions to integrate AI and automation technologies into workplaces that are rapidly reshaping how we work and live. How is US policy keeping up with these changes? How are workers encountering these new technologies in their workplaces and how can safet...

09/26/2026

AI in the workplace got you worried? Check out this EBASE event. Time for a worker voice at the AI table!
Hosted by East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE)
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
9:30 AM - 11:00 AM PDT
Greenlining Building 360 14th St, Oakland, CA 94612

Wednesday, September 30 · The Alameda Labor Council, California Federation of Labor, and EBASE host a panel on the role of AI in the workplace, including workers from across industries, to…

09/24/2026

Lead Organizer Training: Apply by Oct 2!

In-person workshop, Dec 1-4, 2026!

Learn more: https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/workshop/lead-organizer-training/

09/23/2026

Despite living in a largely pro-labor state, with a Democrat-controlled Legislature and dozens of cities and counties with wage floors higher than the state minimum, low-wage workers in California are losing ground. Capital & Main

Salud Garcia’s struggles echo those of millions of low-wage workers across the nation, where mounting costs erode their already precarious footing.