Recent Census Bureau data finds that incomes declined and poverty increased for low -and middle - income Californians in 2007.

This reversal in trend is exacerbated by steadily increasing unemployment rate. In July 2008, California’s unemployment rate reached 7.3% —the highest level in 12 years. That’s not all; to cope with the current economic downturn, employers are cutting workers’ hours. This has profound implications in a state where nearly 29% of its households are asset poor - in other words, living paycheck to paycheck. Because many households lack the savings necessary to weather unexpected financial emergencies like job loss, we are seeing more and more families turning to public assistance programs like CalWORKs, Food Stamps, and Healthy Families program to make ends meet.

As California faces what many economists expect to be an extended period of slow economic growth, it seems our state’s workers and their families have little to celebrate this Labor Day.

To learn more, download California Budget Project’s new report, Labor Day 2008: Little to Celebrate.