IRLE Publications

Working Under COVID-19: Experiences of Nail Salon Workers in California, New York, Pennsylvania & New Jersey captures national trends in the nail salon sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. Launched in partnership with Adhikaar for Human Rights & Social Justice, the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative (CHNSC), and VietLead, this brief compiles surveys, interviews, and focus groups from the four states with the most nail salons: California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.

Media Contact

Emily Jo Wharry, emilyjowharry@g.ucla.edu

Lives & Livelihoods: California’s Private Homecare Industry in Crisis finds that the California homecare industry is facing critical issues that strain workers and consumers alike, amid growing demand that further intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meaningful and timely public investment in the state’s homecare workforce and infrastructure is imperative to the sustainability of the industry over the next decade and beyond.

Media Contact

Emily Jo Wharry, emilyjowharry@g.ucla.edu

The 2022 Hollywood Diversity Report: Part 1 examines relationships between diversity and the bottom line in a Hollywood context still distorted by the virus. It considers the top 200 theatrical and all major streaming, English-language film releases in 2021, ranked by global box office and total household ratings, in order to document the degree to which women and people of color are present in front of and behind the camera. It discusses any patterns between these findings and box office receipts and 18-49 viewer and household ratings by key audience demographics. The report also charts any trends that may reveal the degree to which the industry is progressing on the diversity front over time

Media Contact

Barbra Ramos, bramos@stratcomm.ucla.edu; Willa Needham, willaneedham@ucla.edu

Essential Stories: Black Worker COVID-19 Economic Health Impact Survey finds that the current economic restructuring triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic is compounding the Black jobs crisis in Southern California. With heightened unemployment, underemployment, and unsafe conditions for a workforce plagued by a long history of systemic racism, researchers find that it will take a decade to address these critical issues if state officials do not intervene sooner.

Media Contact

Emily Jo Wharry, emilyjowharry@g.ucla.edu

Resource Accessibility Across the University of California Campuses through Undocumented Students’ Experiences is an evaluation report that sheds light on the challenges undocumented students experience when attempting to access resources at University of California (UC) campuses. The report—published by UC students in partnership with the UCLA Dream Resource Center, UCLA Labor Center, and the Undocumented Student-led Network—finds disparities in resources for undocumented students across UC campuses.

Media Contact

Emily Jo Wharry, emilyjowharry@g.ucla.edu

This article focuses on the mechanisms created to intentionally include and allow for the full participation of workers and learners throughout the research process, which is consistent with the core components of more critical community-engaged scholarship (e.g., real-life social problems are defined, investigated, and addressed with or by the community.

New Directions in Racial and Economic Justice: How California’s Worker Centers Are Bringing Worker Power into Workforce Development finds that worker centers are invaluable actors in the state’s public workforce development system. Worker centers –– community-based organizations created by and for BIPOC and immigrant job seekers and workers in low-wage industries –– provide a comprehensive alternative to the status quo of workforce development through fostering leadership development, movement building, and systemic change.

Media Contact

Emily Jo Wharry, emilyjowharry@g.ucla.edu

Fast-Food Frontline: COVID-19 and Working Conditions in Los Angeles finds that fast-food workers in Los Angeles County are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, in addition to facing difficult work conditions that became more acute during the pandemic. The report is the first in the nation to provide an in-depth portrait of COVID-19 safety compliance through the lens of fast-food workers themselves.

Media Contact

Emily Jo Wharry, emilyjowharry@g.ucla.edu

Nail salon workers and owners have faced financial and emotional strain during the pandemic due to cycles of openings and closings and higher occupational health risks. Despite being a thriving multi-billion dollar industry pre-pandemic, there are limited studies concerning the impacts of COVID-19 on the nail salon sector. Reopening During COVID-19: The Experience of Nail Salon Workers and Owners in California examines how nail salons are navigating safely reopening, and identifies their needs for an equitable recovery.

Media Contact

Emily Jo Wharry, emilyjowharry@g.ucla.edu

As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, it is imperative to investigate its long-term effects on workers and learners who juggle the demands of studying and working. A new report by our Labor Summer Research Program (LSRP) student researchers, Back to the “New Normal”: Workers and Learners Navigate Campus and Workplace Reopening, documents how workers and learners’ academic, employment, and life experiences inform their concerns and expectations for the return to campus and work amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Media Contact

Emily Jo Wharry, emilyjowharry@g.ucla.edu