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Orange RPU PY 2025-2028 Regional Plan
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<br />employer outreach. These efforts ensure that businesses have clear and streamlined
<br />channels for communication, aligning workforce solutions with business needs,
<br />strengthening partnerships, and supporting sustained economic growth across the
<br />region.
<br />V. ENABLING UPWARD MOBILITY FOR ALL CALIFORNIANS
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<br />The Orange RPU aligns with California’s vision of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive
<br />workforce system, ensuring that all individuals, especially those facing systemic barriers,
<br />have access to quality jobs that provide long-term economic stability and self-sufficiency.
<br />Recognizing that economic mobility is a cornerstone of shared prosperity, the region is
<br />committed to implementing policies, partnerships, and programs that advance job quality,
<br />skill development, and access to economic opportunity.
<br />In alignment with the CWDB’s emphasis on job quality, worker-centered policies, and
<br />employer engagement, the Orange RPU will continue to remove barriers to employment,
<br />support wraparound services, and cultivate pathways into sustainable, well-paying
<br />careers.
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<br />A. Promoting and Improving Job Quality and Access
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<br />The Orange RPU recognizes that quality jobs are essential for economic mobility. High-
<br />road jobs provide family-sustaining wages, benefits, predictable scheduling, career
<br />advancement opportunities, worker input, and safe work environments. The RPU
<br />promotes job quality by fostering strong employer partnerships, aligning workforce
<br />development strategies with industry needs, and ensuring that all workers, particularly
<br />those facing systemic barriers, have access to sustainable, high-quality employment.
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<br />Recognizing that Orange County’s economy is shaped by industries with a high
<br />concentration of low-wage jobs, it is crucial to create sustainable pathways for workers to
<br />advance into family-sustaining employment. According to a recent labor market analysis,
<br />only 42% of workers in Orange County hold “good jobs”, defined as full-time, full-year
<br />employment that provides employer-sponsored healthcare and meets the MIT living wage
<br />threshold of $23.66 per hour for a single adult. However, this figure drops to 39% when
<br />considering jobs that support a household with two working adults and one child. Notably,
<br />racial and gender disparities persist, with Latinx workers being the least likely to hold good
<br />jobs (25%) compared to White (51%) and Asian Pacific Islander workers (49%)80.
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<br />It is important to distinguish between a good job and a high-road job. Good jobs meet
<br />baseline economic stability criteria, including a living wage, health benefits, and stable
<br />employment. High-road jobs, as defined by the State of California, go further by offering
<br />clear pathways for advancement, paid sick and vacation leave, predictable schedules,
<br />worker protections, and adherence to fair labor standards81. Given that a significant
<br />portion of jobs in Orange County still fall short of these standards, the RPU remains
<br />committed to working with industry leaders to enhance job quality, develop career
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<br />80 Virginia Parks and Youjin Kim, Orange County Worker Profile (Irvine, CA: UCI Labor Center, 2023),
<br />https://socialecology.uci.edu/sites/default/files/users/mkcruz/cerf_report_by_uci_labor_center.pdf.
<br />81 Parks and Kim, Orange County Worker Profile.
<br />EXHIBIT 1
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