Census data shows East Bay families
working harder for less money

From the Globe Political Desk

According to statistics released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau and analyzed by researchers at the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), conditions for over 1 million East Bay workers have not improved substantially since the 2001 recession. New poverty, income and employment statistics show that the East Bay’s economy increasingly resembles a “teardrop” — bulging at the bottom and growing narrow at the middle and top. From 2001 to 2004, the number of low-income households in the East Bay grew by 10 percent, while the number of the highest income households declined by 5 percent.
    Overall growth is stagnant, while low-wage jobs are growing. The total number of jobs in the East Bay was virtually unchanged between 2000 and 2005 (0.2 percent); the region lost nearly as many jobs as it gained. Meanwhile, the five lowest-wage occupation categories grew by 9.5 percent. Personal care and service occupations, such as home care aides and nail salon workers, grew by 23 percent, while jobs such as janitors and landscapers grew by close to 20 percent.
    In 2006, 9.8 percent of East Bay residents and 18.8 percent of Oakland residents lived in poverty according to federal poverty measures. Twenty-four percent of the East Bay population was economically disadvantaged when considering the Bay Area’s high cost of living. Single mothers with children make up the largest proportion of families in poverty at 43.1 percent, followed by married couples with children at approximately 25 percent. Nearly 40,000 families and 74,000 children in the East Bay live in poverty.
    A near-majority of the poor are working and poor. Forty-six percent of impoverished adults in the East Bay are working full or part time.
    Racial disparities in income and poverty persist. The East Bay’s African American households experienced nearly twice the average poverty rate (19.3 percent versus 9.8 percent), while their household incomes ($40,951) were half that of white and Asian American families ($80,074 and $79,097, respectively).
   “While the economy is doing a good job generating a lot of jobs in the bottom, it’s letting down families trying to earn a living wage,” said Jennifer Lin, senior policy analyst at EBASE.
    On Labor Day weekend, EBASE and other advocates called for a renewed focus by policy makers on creating good quality jobs that can support families. They want cities and local governments to pass local “living wage” policies and focus their economic development efforts on industries that create jobs with sustainable wages and benefits. Several dozen East Bay clergy invited Port of Oakland truck drivers, airport screeners and security guards to speak to their congregations as part of the annual “Labor in the Pulpits” program.
    “As a Pastor in Oakland, every week I see the effects of poverty and low-wage work on my community and my congregation,” said Rev. Lucy Kolin of Resurrection Lutheran Church. “It’s morally reprehensible that those who work hard for a living still can’t make ends meet.”
    The East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy works to raise standards and improve conditions for working families.
    For more information, visit www.workingeastbay.org.