Regions + Occupations

The gradual erosion of jobs in the mid-range of pay and skill in California has deepened wage differences along occupational lines. Likewise, the increasing polarization of work and employment stands to reduce workers’ avenues for advancement out of low-wage jobs.

In the absence of the slack resources to pursue higher education, enroll in social safety net programs, and build transferrable skills, California workers rely on mid-range jobs with overlapping skill requirements as stepping stones into better work—a path that has been the target for tools to aid in identifying opportunities such as the Federal Reserve’s Occupational Mobility Tool.

As the number of such jobs dwindles, an increasing portion of workers seeking to advance out of low-wage work must transition into jobs that are dissimilar to what they currently do.

To aid policymakers and other stakeholders in designing ways to help workers out of this bind, our research team is developing The Future of Work in California Data Dashboard.

The dashboard will combine quantitative analysis of current occupations—job availability, growth, education and skill requirements, regional particularities, and employer characteristics—with qualitative, ethnographic interview data from the workers who currently make their living in California. Tools such as the Suitability for Machine Learning Rubric, which take an objective view of future occupational change, will be put in conversation with the lived experiences of California residents.

Our hope is that the tool will provide both realistic assessments of what is possible under current conditions and creative solutions to some of the most perplexing barriers in the way of Californians’ economic mobility.