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

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

Tax Credit Expansions in the American Rescue Plan

Apr 13, 2021 - (We refer to the prior provisions of these tax credits as “prior law. ” Because the new provisions are scheduled to only be in effect in 2021 in most cases, we anticipate the provisions to revert to prior law starting in 2022.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4410

Fixing Unemployment Insurance

Dec 2, 2024 - Employers pay UI taxes on the first $7,000 of each worker ’s earnings, but the vast majority of workers earn more than $7,000  in each job annually. As a result, employers pay the same amount in UI taxes on behalf of basically every employee in the state, regardless of how much that employee earns.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4943

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - Selected References Blau, Francine, Isaac Cohen, Matthew Comey, Lawrence Kahn, and Nikolai Boboshko (2023). “The Minimum Wage and Inequality Between Groups. ” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 31725.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/3

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - Differences in Weekly Hours Amplify Earnings Inequality. Figure  5 shows that mid-to-high-wage workers are much more likely to work full-time than low-wage workers. As a result, the gap between these groups ’ weekly earnings is wider than the gap between their hourly wages.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/1

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

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

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