In California, 4.3 million adults live without health insurance. Of those, most are workers — more than 2.9 million, according to a report released today by local liberal-leaning research group Center on Policy Initiatives.
And workers in the lowest-wage industries and occupations are least likely to have employer-provided insurance, the group found.
Only 20% of workers in the Accommodation & Food Service industry have job-based insurance, the fewest among the state’s 17 major industries. …
Only 18.5% of workers with income below the federal poverty level ($19,350 for a family of four) receive employer-based coverage, compared to 78% of workers whose income is above 250% of the poverty level ($48,375 for a family of four).
For example, 35% of workers in Food Preparation & Serving occupations are uninsured, and they make a median of $8.39 an hour, while 7% are uninsured in Management occupations, with median wages of $43.54 an hour.
Those lower-wage job pools related to tourism and food services have been gaining the most jobs locally recently.
Indeed, the region’s hourglass economy puts more people at the ends of the wage spectrum, with a dwindling number in the middle.
Check out the whole report here.