Center for Labor Research and Education

This report examines the security guard workforce across the country—who these workers are, what they earn, the conditions under which they work, and the standards that govern the industry—and argues that improving job quality in security is a matter both of economic justice and of public safety.

As a result of federal and state policy decisions made in 2025, we project that 4.6 million Californians under age 65 will be uninsured by 2030—an increase of 2.2 million—and the uninsured rate will nearly double to 14.7%. This will erode much of the progress California has made since the Affordable Care Act and subsequent state actions to move closer to universal coverage. It will also widen disparities in health care coverage, particularly for low-income, Latino, and undocumented Californians, who already face higher-than-average uninsured rates.

Most Californians under age 65 receive health coverage through their or a family member’s employer. Workers earning low wages, however, are far less likely to have job-based coverage, and more likely to be on Medi-Cal or uninsured. This creates a real public cost: California spends tens of billions in state and federal dollars covering low-wage workers through Medi-Cal. In the face of federal Medicaid cuts in H.R. 1, California must revisit the question of who bears responsibility for the health coverage of low-wage workers in a system that primarily relies on job-based coverage for working-age adults and their dependents. This brief examines the low-wage health coverage gap, its costs to the state, and possible policy options—drawing on lessons from other states—available to California lawmakers.

This blog post explains Social Security’s vital importance to millions of Californians, underscores its role as a key driver of the state economy, and highlights broad bipartisan support for sensible proposals to strengthen the system’s finances and enhance benefits for vulnerable groups.

This factsheet highlights the characteristics of the private sector security guard workforce in California, the Los Angeles MSA, and the five-county Bay Area, and highlights the need to improve labor conditions in the industry.

Student Iris De Leon provides a firsthand account of this year's Solidarity Spring, a three-day spring break program during which 50 undergraduates met with workers, tenants, artists, and organizers in the Bay Area to engage in a wide range of activities and learn what solidarity means.

This factsheet describes the characteristics of the private sector security guard workforce in Seattle and the state of Washington, highlighting the need to improve labor conditions in the industry.

Miranda Dietz testified before the California Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 3 on Health and Human Services about who in the state is employed, who has health coverage, what the gap is, and why there are people who are working full time who do not have health coverage. 

Comments submitted to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors highlighting Labor Center research on the economic harms associated with H.R. 1 due to the need for funding to backfill the federal Medi-Cal cuts.

Enrique Lopezlira testified at the March 11, 2026, hearing of the California Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee on “A Year in Review: 2025 Federal Policy Impacts on California’s Labor Market.” View video and slideshow.