Distribution of workers paid low wages by occupation

Table shows the prevalence of workers paid less than $19.69 within each occupation group as well as the distribution of the low-wage workforce across all occupations. In the third column, darker colors indicate that the occupation includes a larger share of the total low-wage workforce. For example, 4 out of 10 (39.8%) workers in Office and Administrative Support occupations are paid low wages and make up 12.8% of the total low-wage workforce.

In 2022, the value of the low-wage threshold is $19.69. The sample includes workers who live and work in California, were employed last week but not self-employed, ages 16+, and with non-zero earnings last week. To calculate the share of workers paid low wages in 2021, we inflate 2021 wages to 2022 dollars and apply the 2022 low-wage threshold.
Chart: UC Berkeley Labor CenterSource: American Community Survey 2021 and 2022Get the dataEmbed Download imageDownload PDFDownload SVGCreated with Datawrapper