Increase in rich, poor in North Bay, study reveals

MARCH 8, 2005
Napa Valley Register
By GABE FRIEDMAN

Register Staff Writer

The economic boom of the 1990s spurred job and population growth in Napa County that continues today. But the boom also increased the disparity between the county's lower income and wealthy families, according to a new report.

Compiled by two researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, the report combs 25 years of data from the U.S. Census Bureau as well as employment and income information for Marin, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties. The report was published by New Economy, Working Solutions, a Sonoma County non-profit.

Titled "The Limits of Prosperity: Growth, Inequality, and Poverty in the North Bay" the report describes the North Bay's "hourglass" economy: There has been increased growth of the low-paying jobs and top-paying jobs, but less growth in the middle-paying jobs.

"It's very easy not to see the poverty around us," said Eric Sklar, a St. Helena City councilman and advisor to NEWS. "But the poverty we have is very real and it just tends to be hidden."

The report found that 31 percent of the children in Napa County live in poor families, second only to Mendocino County, where the figure is 51 percent.

Taking into consideration the costs of housing, food, transportation, child care, taxes and other miscellaneous costs, the researchers calculated a self-sufficiency wage that represent the minimum cost of living in Napa County. A single adult with no children must earn at least $8.63 per hour; a single parent with one infant must earn at least $15.72 per hour; an adult with one infant and one pre-schooler must earn at least $20.07 per hour; and two adults with two children must earn $11.48 per hour each.

According to the 2000 Census, one out of five residents in Napa County was poor, according to the report. Despite the fact that 82,300 jobs were added in the North Bay between 1990 and 2003, the report found that poverty rose by 5 percent during the 1990s.

"We're talking about people who work and want to support their family and can't and that is just not American to me," said Sklar.

He pointed out that the disparity between the wealthy and the poor is also rising: In the 1990s the average income of the bottom one-fifth of the workforce grew by 4 percent, whereas the average income for the top one-fifth grew by 28 percent. By comparison, in the 1980s, the average income of the bottom group grew by nearly 17 percent while the top group's income grew by 33 percent.

The report states that Napa County had the highest rate of job creation in the North Bay, with the number of jobs here increasing by 60 percent since 1970.

While Sonoma County has the majority of regional population growth, its share has been shrinking over time, and Napa is contributing a growing share. Napa County also has the highest growth rate since 2000 at 6 percent, or roughly 7,321 people. Latinos constitute the fastest growing minority and compose roughly 25 percent of the population here, according to the study.

Sklar said that the trends pointed out are present around California, but said "What's unique is that people have a perception that we don't have a problem here ... because we're doing well in the North Bay."

The report concludes that if Napa County's economic growth continues along the projected trends -- with incomes for the richest families increasing substantially and incomes for the poorest families increasing at a much slower rate -- the middle class will erode, and public costs will increase: The workforce will reside elsewhere, more commuters will have impact on highways and roads.

Marty Bennett, Chairman of the Board at NEWS, said the report makes several key observations, including that the minimum wage is no longer a living wage. It should be pegged to an inflation rate to stay current, he said.

The report also advocates greater protections for workers trying to unionize; and more collaborations between workers, unions, government, employers, community colleges and public and private organizations to train the workforce better and create career ladders.

Kate King, CEO and president of the Napa Chamber of Commerce, said that the findings in the report weren't particularly surprising. "I think a lot of it is well-known. It goes back to we need to concentrate on better training our workers," she said.

But she added that she didn't agree with the solutions advocated in the report. "The fact that people can't afford to live here is a problem, but giving them higher wages isn't necessarily the answer," she said.

This weekend, NEWS hosted a symposium in Santa Rosa, attended by Assemblywoman Noreen Evans as well as other Sonoma County leaders, to discuss the report. Bennett said it was the start of a public dialogue that he hopes to bring to Napa County and the other North Bay Counties in the upcoming months.

On the Net:

http://www.neweconomynorthbay.org