FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: lppipress@luskin.ucla.edu
New UCLA Briefs Reveal Regional Workforce Trends for Latinos Across California
Data sourced from LPPI’s Latino Data Hub shows Latino workers powering local economies but facing persistent employment disparities.
LOS ANGELES (September 10, 2025) — The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI) has released a new series of Latino Data Hub (LDH) data briefs analyzing the Latino workforce in four of California’s most critical economic regions: Los Angeles County, the Bay Area, the Central San Joaquin Valley, and the North San Joaquin Valley. The briefs provide an in-depth examination of demographics, human capital, and employment conditions of Latino workers who now comprise 40% of California’s workforce and are projected to account for nearly 80% of new workers nationwide over the next six years.
Despite playing an essential role in California’s economic growth, the authors—Miguel Hernández, Alberto Vargas, Rosario Majano, Misael Galdámez, and Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas—find that Latino workers across all four regions continue to face structural challenges—including high unemployment among Latinas, limited access to high-quality jobs, and persistent educational attainment and language barriers.
“These profiles are a reminder that Latino workers are not only central to California’s economy, but that they face steep inequities—from wage gaps that persist even with college degrees, to high exposure to automation, to barriers in housing and health coverage,” said Dominguez-Villegas, director of research at LPPI. “Understanding these regional dynamics is crucial for shaping workforce strategies that are inclusive and equitable.”
Together, these briefs present similar and striking findings for Latino workers across all regions:
- Steep wage gaps for Latina workers: Latina workers consistently earn the lowest wages of any racial or ethnic group. The steepest wage gap is in the Bay Area, where Latinas earn, on average, $30 less per hour than white men, the highest-paid workers in the region.
- Persistent wage disparities for college-educated Latino workers: Latino workers, both men and women, face persistent wage disparities even when they hold college degrees. In every region, college-educated Latinos earn less than white and AAPI workers with similar levels of education. For example, in the Bay Area, AAPI men with college degrees earn $24 more an hour than college-educated Latino men, and AAPI women $14 more an hour than similarly educated Latinas.
- High risk of displacement from automation: Latino workers are disproportionately employed in jobs at high risk of automation, such as agricultural labor, construction, and material moving. In every region, at least 30% of Latino workers are vulnerable to displacement by technology, with the workers in the San Joaquin Valley showing the highest exposure.
- Low rates of employer-provided health insurance: In all regions, Latinos in the workforce are the least likely to have employer-provided health insurance compared to workers of major racial or ethnic groups, and uninsured rates for Latinos without citizenship range from 25% to 37%.
- High rates of workers experiencing overcrowded housing: Across all regions, Latino workers experience the highest rates of overcrowded housing of all major racial and ethnic groups. For example, more than 1 in 4 Latinos in Los Angeles County and nearly 1 in 5 Latinos in the North San Joaquin Valley report overcrowding, compared to less than 5% for white households in all regions.
Unique findings of each region:
- Los Angeles County: Compared to Latino workers in the other regions analyzed, Latinos in LA County have the lowest rate of homeownership, and experience the highest rate of overcrowded housing and rent burden.
- Bay Area: Latino workers in the Bay Area have higher bachelor’s degree attainment than Latinos in other regions. However, despite the proximity to Silicon Valley, Bay Area Latinos are underrepresented in high-paying tech, professional, and technical roles.
- Central San Joaquin Valley: One in four Latino men, the greatest share of all regions, work in the agricultural industry, which drives the regional economy but offers low wages and seasonal instability.
- North San Joaquin Valley: Between 2000 and 2022, the number of Latinos employed in the region grew by 121%, the highest among all regions. Latinos in the region are overrepresented in construction, with nearly 1 in 5 Latino men employed in the sector. Latino workers in the region also have the highest homeownership rate in the four regions.
“What these briefs show is that the experience of Latino workers is not uniform across California. In Los Angeles, the story is about housing pressures; in the Bay Area, it’s exclusion from the tech economy despite higher education level; in the Central San Joaquin Valley, it’s the reliance on agricultural jobs that offer low pay and little stability; and in the North San Joaquin Valley, it’s the rapid workforce growth paired with persistent unemployment among Latinas,” said Majano, a research analyst at LPPI. “By breaking down the data region by region, we can see the challenges and unique dynamics that call for tailored policy solutions.”
The series is part of LPPI’s ongoing commitment to equipping policymakers, advocates, and employers with actionable data that highlight disparities and inform solutions. The data briefs draw from the 2022 American Community Survey, available through the LDH.
Read the full briefs:
About UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute
The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute is a non-partisan research institute that seeks to inform, engage, and empower Latinos through innovative research and policy analysis. LPPI aims to promote equitable and inclusive policies that address the needs of the Latino community and advance social justice. latino.ucla.edu.
