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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Recent Work

The Center for Labor Research and Education (Labor Center) is a public service and outreach program of the UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Founded in 1964, the Labor Center conducts research and education on issues related to labor and employment. The Labor Center’s curricula and leadership trainings serve to educate a diverse new generation of labor leaders. The Labor Center carries out research on topics such as job quality and workforce development issues, and we work with unions, government, and employers to develop innovative policy perspectives and programs. We also provide an important source of research and information on unions and the changing workforce for students, scholars, policymakers and the public.

California’s public sector staffing crisis

(2024)

Until the state can make much-needed improvements to its property and commercial tax structure, officials will continue to propose drastic service cuts. Eliminating or freezing vacant positions in state and local budget processes may be a convenient way to cut expenses, but without substantive staffing analysis the impact of leaving those positions empty could pose a severe burden on existing staff, Californians, and the economy.

Cover page of Measuring Consumer Affordability is Integral to Achieving the Goals of the California Office of Health Care Affordability

Measuring Consumer Affordability is Integral to Achieving the Goals of the California Office of Health Care Affordability

(2024)

Consumer health care affordability has deteriorated over the past two decades in California due to rising premiums along with increasingly common and increasingly large deductibles for job-based coverage. This report documents these trends and their implications for Californian’s health and financial well-being, and recommends how California’s new Office of Health Care Affordability can monitor consumer affordability metrics in order to ensure that consumers benefit from the office’s efforts to control growth in per capita health care spending.

What Workers and Unions Stand to Gain from Recent Executive Orders on Artificial Intelligence

(2024)

We outline core principles for how government action on AI can benefit public and private sector workers, and comment on how two recent executive orders reflect those principles. Our goal is to help inform the significant work that lies ahead for federal, state, and local governments in their efforts to model responsible use of AI.

Current Landscape of Tech and Work Policy: A Roundup of Key Concepts

(2024)

An overview of current U.S. public policy that regulates employers’ use of digital workplace technologies.

Negotiating Workers’ Rights at the Frontier of Digital Workplace Technologies in 2023

(2023)

Workers and their unions took center stage in 2023 by negotiating landmark agreements that address emerging workplace technologies. Alongside establishing fundamental rights regarding the adoption of new technologies, unions negotiated protective measures for workers, provisions ensuring workers share in the benefits of these advancements, and even reined in certain technological applications. Here’s a closer look at some of the major technology bargaining agreements reached this year.

Cover page of Civil Service Vacancies in California: 2022–2023

Civil Service Vacancies in California: 2022–2023

(2023)

We find that job vacancies in local government appear to be a widespread and significant problem for the public sector affecting a wide range of occupations across wage levels and educational requirements. We offer suggested policy solutions raised by subject matter experts and other reports and analyses on job vacancy challenges in local government.

California’s teachers are fighting for better schools

(2023)

Teachers’ willingness to strike represents not just a resurgence of union power, but also their determination to call attention to the dire consequences of decades of California’s underinvestment in K-12 education.

Overview of New Rights for Workers under the California Consumer Privacy Act

(2023)

This memo provides an overview of workers’ rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and how workers can exercise these rights.

Cover page of Pandemic-Related Trends in Warehouse Technology Adoption

Pandemic-Related Trends in Warehouse Technology Adoption

(2023)

The pandemic’s myriad effects on the U.S. economy will be the subject of research and attention for many years to come. In this report, we delve into some of the pandemic’s impacts by focusing on one question: How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect technology adoption in U.S. warehouses?

Cover page of California’s Climate Investments and High Road Workforce Standards: Gaps and Opportunities for Advancing Workforce Equity

California’s Climate Investments and High Road Workforce Standards: Gaps and Opportunities for Advancing Workforce Equity

(2023)

This report presents a current snapshot of the state’s progress in implementing several of the strategies outlined in our 2020 report A Jobs and Climate Action Plan for 2030. Specifically, we review existing high road standard policies in California, and assess the reach of high road standards across the state’s proposed climate investments in California’s 2022-23 state budget.