Workers in the private sector are more likely to be paid a low wage, with over 1 in 3 workers earning below $19.69; however, about 1 in 4 workers in the public sector are also paid low wages

The bars show the prevalence of low-wage work for the private and public sectors. For example, 36.6% of all workers employed in the private sector were paid low wages.

Bar chart comparing the prevalence of low-wage work for the private or public sector, along with the overall rate of low-wage work. While 35.2% of all workers in California were paid low wages, this is mostly driven by the private sector. 36.6% of workers in the private sector and 24.6% of workers in the public sector earned $19.69 or less in 2022.
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. The public sector includes federal, state, and local government employees.
Chart: UC Berkeley Labor CenterSource: American Community Survey 2021 and 2022 • Get the dataEmbed Download imageDownload PDFDownload SVGCreated with Datawrapper