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Publications

04/20/2016 | Restoring a Fair Workweek

A Hidden Crisis: Underemployment in Silicon Valley's Hourly Workforce

Silicon Valley is among the most prosperous regions in the United States. Yet one-third of workers in San Jose earn less in a year than the average annual rent for a one-bedroom home, and even more working families are caught in an ever-intensifying struggle to make ends meet. In the past four years, a broad, emerging economic-justice movement has won pacesetting minimum wage victories in five cities throughout the Valley: starting with the groundbreaking Raise the Wage San Jose ballot measure in 2012 and continuing with four neighboring cities voting to follow suit. In order for those higher wages to help provide for our region’s working families, employers must also provide employees with an opportunity to work sufficient and consistent hours for a reliable, livable paycheck.