California’s Latino workforce has become essential to the state’s economy, but a new UCLA analysis shows that workers’ pay has not kept pace with their growing economic role.
Latinos now make up 39% of California’s workforce, representing about 7.8 million workers. They are heavily represented in construction, agriculture, hospitality, retail, and other industries that keep the state running. Yet Latino workers continue to earn substantially less than their non-Latino counterparts.
The disparities extend beyond wages. Latino workers also face lower homeownership rates, greater housing crowding, and higher exposure to lower-paying jobs that could be affected by automation.
Latinos make up nearly 40% of workers
Latinos account for approximately 39% of California’s workforce, according to UCLA’s 2026 State of Latinos in California report.
That works out to roughly 7.8 million workers. Their presence has also grown much faster than the rest of the workforce. Between 2000 and 2023, California’s Latino workforce expanded 77%, compared with just 7% growth among non-Latino workers.
The demographic trend makes these workers increasingly important as California’s overall population ages and younger Latino workers continue entering the labor market.
The wage gap remains substantial
The difference in hourly pay is especially large for Latina workers.
UCLA found that Latinas earned a median of $18 an hour, compared with $29 for non-Latina women and $35 for non-Latino men. Latino men earned a median of $20 an hour.
That means Latinas earned slightly more than half the hourly wage of non-Latino men in the underlying 2023 data.
The disparities can affect more than monthly income. Lower wages can make it harder to build savings, buy a home, pay for childcare, or prepare for retirement.
Noncitizen workers earn even less
Citizenship status creates another divide.
Noncitizen Latino workers had a labor-force participation rate of 69%, higher than the 66% rate for Latino citizens and the 61% rate for non-Latino citizens. Yet their median wage was only $17 an hour.
Latino citizens earned a median of $20 an hour, while non-Latino citizens earned $32 an hour.
The numbers show that high workforce participation does not necessarily translate into high earnings.
Construction and service jobs carry much of the load
Latino workers are concentrated in several labor-intensive industries.
Latino men were more than twice as likely as non-Latino men to work in construction, 17% compared with 8%. They were also five times as likely to work in agriculture, 5% compared with 1%. Latinas were more heavily represented in hospitality and entertainment as well as retail.
These industries often provide lower wages or fewer benefits than professional and technical occupations.
Union representation also varies sharply. In 2024, about 18% of California construction workers and 8% of retail workers were represented by unions, compared with 52% of public administration workers.
Los Angeles caregivers received a raise
The wage debate is particularly visible in Los Angeles County’s home-care workforce.
More than 240,000 In-Home Supportive Services caregivers received a raise to $19.64 per hour, effective January 1, 2026. The increase combined a $0.40 rise tied to California’s minimum wage with a $0.74 supplement negotiated with Los Angeles County.
IHSS workers help elderly residents and people with disabilities remain in their homes.
The raise increased pay from $18.50 to $19.64 an hour, but the jobs remain relatively low-paid in one of the country’s most expensive housing markets.
Housing costs deepen the problem
Lower wages become even more difficult to manage when housing costs are high.
UCLA’s regional workforce research found that Latino workers in Los Angeles County had the lowest homeownership rate among the four California regions studied. They also experienced the highest rent burden and the highest levels of overcrowding.
More than one in four Latino workers in Los Angeles County lived in overcrowded housing, while fewer than 5% of White households experienced overcrowding in each region examined.
The numbers show how employment and housing pressures can reinforce one another. Working more hours does not necessarily create financial stability when rent consumes a large share of income.
A college degree narrows but does not erase the gap
Education generally increases earnings, but UCLA found that wage differences remain even among workers with bachelor’s degrees.
College-educated Latinas earned a median of $31 per hour, compared with $52 per hour for college-educated non-Latino men.
Among adults ages 25 to 34, 22% of Latinos held a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 54% of non-Latinos.
That means California faces two connected challenges: increasing access to higher education and ensuring that workers receive more comparable financial returns after earning a degree.
Automation could create another challenge
The same workforce that powers many essential industries may also be disproportionately exposed to technological change.
UCLA’s regional research found that at least 30% of Latino workers in each major California region studied held jobs considered vulnerable to displacement from technology.
Automation does not necessarily mean those jobs will disappear entirely. Technology can change job duties, productivity, and staffing levels in different ways.
Still, workers in retail, food service, logistics, and some other occupations may need greater access to training if employers increasingly adopt automated systems.
California strengthened pay transparency laws
California has already changed some employment rules in response to persistent pay disparities.
SB 642, which took effect January 1, 2026, strengthened the state’s Equal Pay Act. It requires job-posting pay ranges to reflect a good-faith estimate, extends the period for filing certain equal-pay claims to 3 years, and allows workers to seek up to 6 years of back pay in qualifying cases.
SB 464 also strengthened employer pay-data reporting. It requires demographic information collected for reporting purposes to be stored separately from personnel records and expands reporting requirements for larger employers.
Whether those laws materially narrow California’s wage gaps will take time to measure.
TL;DR
- Latinos make up 39% of California’s workforce, or about 7.8 million workers.
- Latinas earn a median of $18 per hour, compared with $35 per hour for non-Latino men.
- Latino men earn a median of $20 an hour.
- Noncitizen Latino workers have high labor force participation but earn a median of $17 an hour.
- Latino workers are heavily represented in construction, agriculture, hospitality, and retail.
- More than one in four Latino workers in Los Angeles County experience overcrowded housing.
- College education raises wages, but substantial pay gaps remain even among degree holders.
- California’s new pay-transparency and equal-pay laws are intended to make disparities easier to identify and challenge.
