Cruel Summer: Economic Impacts of Extending Unemployment Benefits to Public K-12 Classified Workers in the State of California
April 21, 2015 / By Patrick Burns, Daniel Flaming and Yvonne Yen Liu / California State Council of Service Employees, SEIU Local 1021, SEIU Local 221, SEIU Local 521, SEIU Local 99
Most California school employees in classified positions such as teacher assistants, childcare workers, janitors, and office clerks struggle to support their families with incomes that are often inadequate to pay for food, housing and health care. The median annual earnings of classified workers in 2012 was only $20,700, well below self-sufficiency standards.