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Listening to Californians: what workers paid low wages want us to know

Kim Ammann Howard, Director of Impact Assessment and Learning; Annie Bickerton, Senior Impact Assessment and Learning Officer

The car breaking down. An unexpected medical bill. A missed paycheck. For many working Californians paid low wages, it doesn’t take much to slip from making ends meet into crisis. This reality is unmistakable when you listen to workers. Across the state, they report doing everything they can to get by: juggling multiple jobs, picking up gig work, stretching credit cards, and relying on family and friends who may themselves be under strain.  

At Irvine, listening is a core practice that shapes how we learn, partner, and act. Along with grantees and partners, we are committed to listening to low-income workers, whose perspectives, stories, and insights are too often absent from philanthropic and policy decisions. This helps us better understand their economic realities and how systems are working—or not—to serve Californians. 

An example of putting this commitment to listening into practice is our support of the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), whose research allows us to hear directly from working people across the state, in their own words.  

Last summer, PPIC hosted 12 listening circles with 136 workers earning low and middle incomes from the Bay Area, the North and Central Coast, Central Valley, Inland Empire, Los Angeles County, and San Diego County. Participants were invited to share how they experience today’s economy—what feels precarious and what feels possible, and what they want leaders in philanthropy, government, and business to do differently.  

The stories we heard in the listening sessions reinforce the urgency of Irvine’s goal of a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically. PPIC integrated themes from these conversations into Work and Economic Insecurity in California, a report exploring the drivers of economic insecurity and potential policy responses. The report pairs statewide data with the workers’ lived experiences, grounding more abstract economic trends in human stories and reinforcing why listening must sit alongside analysis. Key takeaways include: 

The cost of living is outpacing wages. Careful budgeting no longer stretches far enough to absorb rising rents, grocery bills, and utilities. Some pointed to the pandemic era as a turning point, when prices began noticeably rising faster than income; since 2020, food and rent prices are up 25% on average and utilities and gas are up 40%. High housing costs—particularly acute in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego—surfaced repeatedly as a defining burden.

“I make enough money to pay my rent, but not enough to pay my groceries. I can’t pay for emergencies and don’t have savings…I’ve just been paying rent, rent, and more rent.” – San Francisco Bay Area worker 

The path to getting ahead feels steep and risky. Pursuing a better-paying job or training opportunity often requires time, money, or schedule flexibility that workers simply don’t have. Some feared losing public benefits if their wages increased even slightly.

“I want to go to school for the knowledge, but finding the time is extremely hard…I’m too busy working to pay the bills.” – Central Valley worker 

The system feels rigged. The trade-off between working long or irregular hours to try to make ends meet and meeting family responsibilities feels unfair. Barriers in the job market, including hiring bias, AI screening tools, frustrating job search platforms, and ghost job listings, reinforce this perception and signal to workers that the deck is stacked against them from the start.

“I don’t have time to take on more work. I have a kid and am maxed out on time. I’m working full-time already.” – Los Angeles worker 

Economic precarity carries an emotional toll. Stress, anxiety, depression, and isolation were common themes. Many workers expressed a sense of injustice—a belief that the economic system rewards wealth and power while leaving working people behind, despite their effort and resilience.

“It keeps piling up and piling up. You don’t get more money, and it causes more severe anxiety and depression.” – Inland Empire Worker

Support systems are stretched thin. When crises arise, workers often turn first to personal networks for support, though friends and family are often struggling to stay afloat as well. Public programs provide essential help, but many described difficulties navigating them. Others found themselves caught in the “benefits cliff,” earning too much to qualify for assistance yet not enough to achieve financial stability. 

“I wish I got food stamps. That is a dream to me. That would be life changing. I don’t qualify for them but wish I did.” – Los Angeles Worker 

Ambitious solutions need to be rooted in lived experience. Workers want stronger protections against rising rents, universal healthcare, an end to benefits cliffs, easier access to education and training, and greater accountability for corporations. They agreed that meaningful reforms that reflect the on-the-ground realities of working Californians are urgently needed—though trust in government and institutions remains low.

“To politicians and CEOs, I would say to live like we do and see if you can make it work and what it feels like. Until you know how hard it is to live on $1,200 a month, you can’t really conceptualize what people need.” – Central Valley worker 

We encourage you to read the full report to explore the lived experiences of workers paid low wages – and the solutions they want to see. By listening deeply, partnering with those closest to the challenges, and acting on what we hear, we can continue advancing solutions grounded in the lived realities of workers today and expand real economic opportunity for low-income workers across California. 

About the Foundation Impact Assessment and Learning

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