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Open Access Publications from the University of California

The UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment supports faculty and graduate student research on employment and labor topics in a variety of academic disciplines. The Institute also sponsors colloquia, conferences and other public programming, and is home to the undergraduate minor in Labor and Workplace Studies at UCLA. The Institute also includes three sub-units: the UCLA Labor Center, the Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program, and the Human Resources Round Table.

Cover page of High Stakes: The State of the California Cannabis Workforce

High Stakes: The State of the California Cannabis Workforce

(2025)

Seven years into the official launch of the adult-use market, cannabis is at a crossroads in California. Rapid cycles of booms and busts, rushes and slowdowns, and threats and opportunities have made for an industry that, despite many changes, still brings significant value to the state and stands as an expanding source of economic development. Often missing from the story of the industry’s shifts are workers, who in 2024 were estimated to number at least 78,618 in the legal market alone. 

Through a research justice model guided by our community advisory board of labor and equity groups throughout the state, we built a team of worker researchers who conducted more than 1,111 surveys, collected more than 50 in-depth interviews, brought the findings to stakeholders in seven in-depth data “seshes,” and created a wide-ranging Instagram presence that shared 25 live episodes on key issues facing workers and the industry.

“High Stakes: The State of the California Cannabis Workforce” shares important trends that confirm the potential of cannabis to contribute to California’s growth, well-being, and environmental change, as well as challenges that must be addressed head-on.

Cover page of Unlocking Potential: The Inland Empire Black Worker Center’s Transformative IE Works Program

Unlocking Potential: The Inland Empire Black Worker Center’s Transformative IE Works Program

(2023)

The Black jobs crisis is alive and well in the Inland Empire, with Black workers having the highest unemployment rates and lowest median earnings across the region. To address this, the newly-formed Inland Empire Black Worker Center (IEBWC) has implemented a pre-apprenticeship program for IE Works—a consortium of water/wastewater utilities and community groups in the Inland Empire—that prioritizes the respect and dignity of Black workers while also preparing them for high road jobs in the water/wastewater sector. Unlocking Potential: The Inland Empire Black Worker Center’s Transformative IE Works Program, a new report authored by the UCLA Center for the Advancement of Racial Equity (CARE) at Work at the UCLA Labor Center, showcases the results of this pioneering workforce development model. The program aims to provide stability, living wages, and a career path to support families utilizing a three-pronged approach: 1) internships for active college students, 2) pre-apprenticeship for those new to the trades, and 3) apprenticeship programs.