Hourly Workers Earning Less Now Than Before Recession, Report says - Los Angeles Times
Despite gains in the economy, hourly workers in California earned significantly less in 2013 than they did when the Great Recession began, a report says.
That is especially true for Californians in low-wage positions who earn in the bottom 20th percentile, according to a California Budget Project report released Thursday. These workers saw earnings plunge 5.4% to an average of $10.90 an hour, down from an inflation-adjusted prerecession level of $11.52.
Job seekers attend a job fair in San Diego in February. (Sam Hodgson / Bloomberg)
The low-wage Californians “had the steepest drop in earnings in 2013 relative to their value in 2006, the year before the recession began,” the report said.
Middle-wage workers in California did not fare much better. Last year, they earned an average of $19.10 an hour, which was 5.1% below the $20.12 they earned before the recession, when adjusted for inflation. Higher income workers only suffered a 0.6% drop to $35.23.
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