Three-quarters of Californians predicted in a statewide survey that their personal finances would remain about the same or grow even stronger over the next year, yet 61% expressed concern that the economy could falter.
The Public Policy Institute of California asked state residents to share their outlook on state, national and economic issues as part of its survey titled “Californians and Their Government.” Responses were gathered from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9.
Although state residents are still not certain they can trust in the economic recovery, data continue to show improvement, PPIC researchers noted.
“Inflation came in (Thursday) at 2.4%, a level last seen in early 2021,” wrote Sarah Bohn, vice president and director of the PPIC’s Economic Policy Center. “Price growth today is less than a third of what it was during the worst of the inflation crisis.”
But Bohn also noted that there are reasons why workers might not be ready to trust that a turnaround is real.
“Californians have now weathered over three years of higher prices,” Bohn said. “While income has risen notably over that time, inflation has taken a big cut, leaving many just barely ahead of where they were in 2021.”
A majority of residents, 53%, who earn $40,000 or less said they are dissatisfied with their household’s current financial situation, but dissatisfaction levels dropped as income levels rose. Among those earning $40,000 to $79,999, 37% were unhappy with their lot. In households with income at $80,000-plus, only 17% of respondents were unhappy.
Median household income is on the rise in California, growing 13% to more than $95,000 between 2021 and 2023, the PPIC found from an examination of recent Census Bureau data.
The median U.S. household earned about $78,000 in 2023, with Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian and Native American households enjoying the largest increases — 21% and 19% respectively, Bohn said, and Black households saw 14% growth in their median pay.
Consumer prices, however, rose by 19% since March 2021, so much of those wage gains were eaten up by inflation.
Inflation takes big bite out of income gains among people of color
PPIC researchers said that many factors contributed to the growth in median household incomes for people of color, but they noted that hourly wages in leisure and hospitality businesses had grown to $25.70 in December 2023, up 19% since March 2021. After inflation, the gain was only about 3%.
“This boost, as well as relatively strong wage growth in the trade and transportation and construction sectors is likely a factor boosting income among households of color in California,” Bohn wrote.
Large income gaps still exist between Californians of color and their white neighbors, PPIC researchers noted: Black households earned median wages of $67,000 in 2023; Asians, $124,000; whites, $106,000; Pacific Islanders, $95,000 and Latinos, $79,000.
Even when people of color possess the same level of education as their white counterparts, many earn much lower median wages, said Kim Tabari of the University of Southern California’s Equity Research Institute, speaking in September on the State of Black California in Sacramento.
In one slide, Tabari showed that median wages for whites with bachelor’s degrees averaged $46 an hour between 2017 and 2021. Black and Native Americans with the same level of education earned a median of $36 an hour, and Latinos earned $33 an hour.
“It’s important to note that education is part of the solution, but it’s not the solution,” Tabari said. “If you’re on a team where you all have the same degrees, chances are the Black person is probably making less than everybody else.”
The PPIC also noted that a few low-income regions of the state saw big gains in median income. From 2021 to 2023, Bohn noted, Bakersfield, Visalia, and Redding metropolitan areas saw gains of 5% to 11% in median income after inflation.
Not all lower income metros benefited, though. After accounting for inflation, median income fell throughout much of the Central Valley, including in the Fresno, Modesto, Merced and Stockton metro regions, Bohn reported.
San Diego and Vallejo enjoyed the distinction of being the only two metros where median income exceeded that of the state overall and they still pulled down more positive income growth despite inflationary pressures. A PPIC graphic showed that Sacramento’s median household income stood slightly below where it was in 2021.
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
