California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - Responses to the wage, earnings, and hours questions are relatively precise. The main exception is that high wages are top-coded: all wages above a certain amount are assigned the same value. In high-wage states like California, top-coding seriously hinders analyses that consider the upper portion of the wage distribution.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/4

Fixing Unemployment Insurance

Dec 2, 2024 - While it is reasonable to expect that some workers would make too much money for UI to replace half of their earnings, California ’s benefit levels only meet the federal wage replacement standard for half of the state ’s workers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4943

Improving California’s Unemployment Insurance Program

Aug 8, 2022 - The state sets weekly UI payments based on prior earnings. Workers receive half of their average weekly earnings, based on their highest earning quarter of their base year. State law set in 2005 also caps the maximum payment at $450 per week.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615

The 2021-22 Budget: Business Tax Incentives

Jan 28, 2021 - Of this amount, after accounting for the five ‑year structure of the tax credit agreements and the credit recaptures, we estimate that business have earned roughly $ 500  m illion in California Competes tax credits.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4327

The 2026-27 Budget: CDTFA’s Cannabis and Tobacco Programs

Feb 23, 2026 - Money returned to the General Fund can be spent on a much wider array of programs than those supported by the Cannabis Tax Fund. Consequently, shifting enforcement costs from the Cannabis Tax Fund to the General Fund is inefficient.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5132

The 2025-26 Budget: Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development

Mar 18, 2025 - Overall, most programs increase employment and earnings among participants while receiving a subsidy. However, the ultimate goal is to improve long-term employment prospects of these workers. Research suggests that it is less common that programs lead to h igher employment or earnings after the subsidy ends.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5018

Tax Credit Expansions in the American Rescue Plan

Apr 13, 2021 - This piece will briefly describe the changes to three credits that apply to many lower-income and middle-income filers: the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the Child Tax Credit (CTC), and the Child and Dependent Care Expenses Credit ( “child care credit ”).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4410

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - It is comfortably within the range of minimum wage increases in the U.S. over the last four decades —closer to the bottom of that range than the top. Coming Into 2024, Roughly 10  Percent of Workers Made $16 Per Hour or Less.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/3

Effect of Returning to Historical Estimated Tax Payment Schedule

Feb 27, 2023 - These payments are made in April, June, and September of the year the income is earned, as well as January of the following year. State Changed Payment Schedule During Great Recession to Address Budget Problem.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4722

Annual Report on Tax Exemptions for Medicinal Cannabis

Jul 1, 2021 - The top panel of the figure summarizes the total weight of donations whose weights were specified in the Metrc data. The bottom panel summarizes the number of donated packages whose weights were not specified.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4447