blog post Video: Setting the Stage for Universal Preschool By Vicki Hsieh May 17, 2022 PPIC researcher Emmanuel Prunty presents new findings on access to Transitional Kindergarten (TK) across diverse student groups, and an expert panel discusses how to ensure an equitable expansion of TK.
blog post California’s Housing Divide By Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Hans Johnson, Julien Lafortune May 13, 2022 African Americans and Latinos have been especially affected by the state’s housing affordability crisis, and the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on households of color threatens to widen disparities in homeownership.
blog post California’s Labor Force: A Swift Recovery, but What’s Next? By Sarah Bohn, Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Julien Lafortune Apr 28, 2022 Total employment has recovered more quickly from the COVID-19 recession than from previous downturns. Still, current workforce pressures reflect ongoing challenges that California must address to foster long-term economic mobility and growth.
blog post Will Infrastructure Investments Mean Better Jobs for Californians? By Daniel Payares-Montoya, Shannon McConville, Sarah Bohn Apr 25, 2022 Substantial new public spending on infrastructure has the potential to increase economic mobility in California, though a share of the newly created jobs likely will be in low-paying occupations.
Report Health Care Access among California’s Farmworkers By Paulette Cha Apr 25, 2022 Farmworkers are a key link in the food supply chain and important contributors to California’s economy. As farmworkers age, their health care needs are changing—and cost and lack of insurance are often barriers to care. While recent state and federal policies have made insurance more accessible, not all policies improved coverage among farmworkers.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: Health Care Access among California’s Farmworkers By Paulette Cha, Stephanie Barton Apr 25, 2022 California’s farmworkers, who are a key link in the food supply chain, often face barriers to health care—including cost or lack of insurance. Certain expansions to Medi-Cal led to gains in insurance coverage for some farmworkers; other policies, such as the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act, did not seem to improve coverage.
blog post Many California Renters Fear Eviction Despite Increased Aid By Hans Johnson, Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Julien Lafortune Apr 22, 2022 Nearly 1.5 million renters across the state are behind on rent payments, and more than 600,000 of them believe they could face eviction in the next two months.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: Drought and California’s Agriculture By Alvar Escriva-Bou, Josué Medellín-Azuara, Ellen Hanak, John Abatzoglou Apr 13, 2022 California’s agricultural sector is the nation’s largest: it generates more than $50 billion dollars in annual revenue and employs more than 420,000 people. The ongoing drought is taking a toll on agriculture, related sectors, and rural communities, but there are ways to increase resilience in a warming world.
blog post Video: COVID in California—What Have We Learned about the Economy? By Vicki Hsieh Apr 1, 2022 California State Controller Betty T. Yee talks with PPIC’s Lande Ajose about the key economic lessons learned from the pandemic and how the state can chart a path forward.
blog post California’s Jobs Recovery Has Been Stronger than We Thought By Sarah Bohn, Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Julien Lafortune Mar 25, 2022 While overall employment is still below pre-pandemic levels, the pace of the COVID recovery is unprecedented. Still, some key sectors of the economy have been slower to rebound.