WATCH: What does it take to find fulfilling, well-paying work? PLUS: $1.8 million penthouse?
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It’s Wednesday, July 28, 2021, this is Alex Yoon-Hendricks.
So many people hate the jobs they’re working at. What would it take to find employment in a position that’s fulfilling — or at least pays well?
It’s a question that’s been running through a lot of people’s minds recently, and is increasingly cropping up in headlines as businesses and employers struggle to find workers in these waning months of the pandemic.
It’s also a question that my colleague Jeong Park sought to tackle in a new documentary produced by The Equity Lab, which drops Thursday. The documentary, titled “Beyond Poverty: Fight for the California Dream,” features experts, policy leaders, everyday workers and more.
The film builds on the reporting Jeong does every day as an economic mobility reporter, and was supported through grants from the Solutions Journalism Network and the Irvine Foundation. I called him up to ask what people can expect from the documentary and to ask why it’s so timely now. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
So what is this documentary about? What should people take away from this documentary?
As an economic mobility reporter, I read a lot about different ideas — we hear a lot about automation, AI and so forth. But what I really wanted to do was to explore what the future of work means for workers, and how workers will adapt to the future of work.
What I really wanted this video not to be is 1. doom and gloom. So many stories are about how the California dream is dead. While there are some elements of truth, we didn’t want to focus on what everyone else is focused one. But we also didn’t want this to be a promotion of this, “You can pull yourself up by your bootstraps” idea.
So the video is kind of finding a middle ground between those two narratives. Why are some of the workers finding success, but what did it really take to get the success that they got?
Was there anything you heard from workers that you didn’t expect to hear?
On Twitter, it’s almost a meme at this point to tell people, “Learn to code” or to tell people to be trained for a better job, as if workers haven’t had the thought of having a better job.
But what I was surprised when I was talking to workers is that often they were able to get themselves to a better place, but they needed a lot of help on the way. And I think you will see that in the video. Some of the help came from the government, some help came from nonprofits, from friends and neighbors. I think it speaks to the role the community plays as a whole in helping Californians get to a better job or into a better place.
How did the people you talked to describe the feeling of moving into those new, better jobs?
What’s a better job can be defined in multiple ways, right? Better pay is definitely part of it, benefits. For most people, it’s working hours, having a set schedule.
One of the workers I spoke with, bought their second car to replace their old car that was 25, 30 years old, and they were able to replace it because of their better job with more money. One of the first things she did was take her family to the beach.
Her family lives in Stockton, but she had not been to the beach in years because she did not have a reliable means of transportation to get there. She was telling me about the joy she got when she and her kids got when they saw the beach for the first time. Those little things really, really make a difference in peoples’ lives.
The doc drops Thursday, be sure you’re following the Sac Bee and checking your social feeds to watch it!
Here’s what else you need to know this week:
Must-Read Stories
CALIFORNIA IS EXPANDING HEALTH CARE COVERAGE TO UNDOCUMENTED ADULTS:
California will offer public health care to undocumented Californians age 50 and older starting next year in a historic expansion.
The law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Tuesday expanding coverage means more undocumented Californians will be able to receive extended care through Medi-Cal. Previously, eligibility for undocumented residents ended at age 26.
WORKING OUTDOORS IN THE HEAT?:
California in 2005 became the first state to establish a standard to protect outdoor workers from heat exposure.
WHERE IS CALIFORNIA POVERTY MOST SEVERE?:
The high cost of housing and childcare and the slow growth of workers’ incomes pushed nearly one-third of California households into situations where they struggled to pay for their basic needs, according to a report published Wednesday by United Ways of California.
The nonprofit organization said the report, based on data from 2019, illustrates how far California has to go to address poverty, especially among those who are working.
Nearly all of the households struggling to pay for housing, childcare, health care and food have at least one working adult, according to the report.
‘BEING IN HELL’:
Cooks working next to a fryer without air conditioners in a 115-degree room. Workers pleading to use portable fans to cool down in a warehouse where the temperature can reach 120 degrees.
Those are examples of California workers who labored through the several major heatwaves that have engulfed much of the state this summer.
As heatwaves set records again and again in much of California, workers say they often find themselves not protected, putting them at the risk of heat stroke and exhaustion.
More Interesting Reads
Activists push Sacramento County to consider race, equity in new criminal justice agency | The Sacramento Bee
Interactive map shows how high rents have gotten in every Sacramento-area ZIP code | The Sacramento Bee
Communities of color in Stockton want cleaner air where they live. Is California listening? | The Sacramento Bee
Half of California community college students lack money for food. New funding aims to help | The Sacramento Bee
What we’re watching (and you should, too!)
It was a deep cut when Saturday Night Live came out with that sketch about millennials salivating over Zillow listings.
For awhile, I’ve had this habit of looking up city home tour videos on YouTube in my spare time. A glamorous influencer or creative in New York or Los Angeles or Toronto will saunter around their house, remarking on the original shiplap ceiling, or restored fireplace mantel, or their collection of literal silver spoons.
Much of this housing rubbernecking is focused on a major metropolis, but Sacramento has it’s own universe of YouTube real estate content. Virtually everyone in these videos is a real estate agent (rather than a homeowner or renter). Videos range from market analysis to internet-friendly pro-con lists to open house tours, all thumping along with royalty-free music. Most of these videos get a few hundred views, with maybe a comment or two.
Of all these videos, I beg you to watch one: This six and a half minute video posted last year on a $1.9 million “LUXURY PENTHOUSE APARTMENT TOUR in Downtown Sacramento” which is, in fact, located in midtown at the L Street Lofts.
Apparently previously owned by a Sacramento Kings player (bets on which one?), it is a perfectly fine loft with admittedly impressive windows. It’s got Thermador kitchen appliances which I hear are good. The real estate agent, Mark McDonough, tries to find as many variations of the phrase, “This is downtown living at its finest,” as he can. (Again, this is not in Downtown Sacramento.)
Honestly, describing the video in words really does not do it justice. Something magical washes over me as I watch the real estate agent struggle to describe the views, pointing out no less than three times the “my buddy Johnny Cash over there” mural on the side of a hotel, and the wisp of the Capitol building peeking through tree canopy. It’s not schadenfreude, but it’s close.
According to Redfin, this can’t-beat penthouse is still on the market, now listed at just under $1.8 million. Here’s the link to the listing, just in case any Sacramento Kings players are reading this.
Where to find us
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Thank you for reading, and we will see you again next week!
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