“I‘M PROUD TO BE HELPING CALIFORNIANS. BUT THOUSANDS OF STATE EMPLOYEES CAN’T CAR”
My parents are undocumented working-class immigrants, and I wanted to get a stable job to help support them and our community. So, I went to school at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz to get a good education. However, after I got hired at the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), I discovered that the pay wasn’t fair for the field. CalHR’s pay scale, which hasn’t been adjusted for inflation, means the original salary for my position, created in 1978, would be $75,000 annually, compared to $57,000 today.
Every day at work, my colleagues and I focus on addressing the housing crisis. Meanwhile, despite living in a state with the world’s 4th largest economy, public programs have been gutted, and wage increases for California state workers lag behind inflation.
I want to stay with the State, but the salary is not competitive, causing a brain drain and leading to chronic shortages in departments across the state. And this in turn prevents us from providing our fellow citizens with the services they expect and deserve.
State work provides underrepresented people with a path toward success and can help our communities, but not if the State doesn’t support us. People who lack social capital continue to suffer, and that gap continues to grow.
I’m proud to work for the state of California. Please help me continue doing so by making funding for state employees a priority.
MANUEL HURTADO
– DATA SPECIALIST
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (CDHCD)