The decisions made by California’s next governor will affect generations to come, Melanie Mason writes in
The Los Angeles Times. A study by the Institute of Spatial Economic Analysis concludes that many occupations, including bookkeepers, accountants, and cashiers, may be vulnerable with the increase of automation. With about 63 percent of jobs subject to possible automation, workers in the southern California cities of Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ontario are particularly vulnerable. “We’re facing a major challenge. If we don’t do anything, then it will turn into an apocalypse,” said Johannes Moenius, an economics professor at the University of Redlands. Citing
data from PRRI, Mason reports that policymakers will have to address the changing nature of work: gig economy workers in California are already more likely than non-gig economy workers to say that they or a household member have been paid less than the minimum wage (29 percent vs. 7 percent), experienced racial discrimination in the workplace (26 percent vs. 10 percent), and had other negative work experiences in the last year.