Agenda - Council Work Session - 07/28/2026

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HOME — FACTS — TABLES — VIDEOS — INFOGRAPHICS — AGENCIES — RESEARCH Example Op-Eds on Misclassification and Wage Theft in Construction Solis, Hilda. (2017). "Opinion: Wage Discrimination in Construction Industry Makes Minimum Standards a Good Idea." The Mercury News. Opinion: Wage Discrimination in Construction Industry Makes Minimum Standards a Good Idea The Mercury News (San Francisco Bay Area) I By Hilda L. Solis I August 30, 2017 Equal pay for equal work remains elusive, even here in progressive California. A recent study by Smart Cities Prevail showed that Latinos make up two thirds of the construction workforce, yet only make about 70 cents on the dollar of white workers with the same skills. The study noted that Latino construction workers also are significantly more likely to be uninsured and to struggle with housing affordability. Low minimum wage standards are one factor that contributes to these types of disparities. California legislators are soon expected to consider streamlining development of more housing across our state. At its core, the proposal involves removing certain regulatory hurdles in exchange for guarantees that a small percentage of new developments will include "affordable" units. A similar effort failed last year when no agreement was reached on wage standards for workers on streamlined projects. According to industry research, workers' wages and benefits are just 15 percent of the total cost of constructing housing. By comparison, profits for developers and contractors are 18 percent of costs and growing faster than the cost of labor. And while inflation -adjusted construction wages are down 25 percent over the last 20 years, housing prices have soared as much as 54 percent in some markets. Declining wages mean more worker reliance on Medicaid, Food Stamps and other assistance programs. And with labor standards being eroded, other problems have become more pervasive. For example, wage theft occurs when employees are paid for fewer hours than they worked, less than legally required, or when their employer is paying in cash and cheating on payroll taxes. California's construction industry has seen a 400 percent increase in wage theft since the 1970s—a period that has also seen a dramatic increase in the share of immigrants in our construction workforce. A recent study by the Economic Roundtable found that one in six California construction workers is now affected by these crimes. Construction wage theft's annual cost to California workers and taxpayers is in the billions of dollars. By including things like prevailing wage in a housing streamlining package, California can take an important step in combatting this cycle of exploitation. 20