Closing racial pay gaps on the Central Coast would lift incomes for workers of color, but those gains would come from different sources depending on the community. For some groups, the path to income equity is higher wages. For others, it is employment access. Understanding which barrier matters most for each community helps to determine where interventions need to focus.

In Ventura and Santa Barbara counties in 2021, 100 percent of projected income gains for Latinx workers would have come from higher wages. That meant Latinx workers were already in the workforce but underpaid compared to white workers doing similar work. Black workers showed similar patterns: 94 percent of gains in Santa Barbara and 66 percent in Ventura would have come from wage increases rather than employment growth. Asian American workers in San Luis Obispo would have seen 60 percent of gains from higher wages.

Other groups faced employment barriers rather than wage gaps. In San Luis Obispo, 99 percent of income gains for workers in the mixed/other race category would have come from increased employment, not higher pay. These workers needed access to jobs, not just better wages in jobs they already held.

The data showed wage gaps were the primary barrier for Latinx and Black workers, while employment access was the barrier for workers in the mixed/other category. Different barriers require different approaches.

Insights & Analyses: San Luis Obispo County

• In San Luis Obispo County, the main source of income gains for Latinx and Black workers would come from an increase in wages.
• For most Mixed/other workers, improvement in income would come from an increase in employment. 

Insights & Analyses: Santa Barbara County

• In Santa Barbara County, the main source of income gains for Latinx and Black workers would be through an increase in wages. 

Insights & Analyses: Ventura County

• In Ventura County, the main source of income gains for people of color would be through an increase in wages.