BUILDING THE HIGH ROAD TO RACIAL EQUITY - Addressing Implicit Bias in the San Francisco

As one of the largest and fastest growing industries with an expanding supply of life-sustaining jobs, restaurants could offer a sustainable career ladder to thousands of people living in an increasingly precarious economy.2 This begs the question: sustainable jobs for whom? With 47 percent of the restaurant workforce nationwide composed of workers of color, and an impressive 72 percent in Califor. [...] As one of the largest and fastest growing industries with an expand- ing slew of life-sustaining positions, restaurants offer a sustainable career ladder to thousands of people living in an increasingly precari- ous economy.5 This begs the question: sustainable jobs for whom? With 47 percent of the restaurant workforce nationwide composed of workers of color, and an impressive 72 percent in Califo. [...] The economic position of workers of color in the restaurant industry is particularly precarious.11 Restaurant workers experi- ence poverty at twice the rate of workers overall, and workers of color bear the brunt of this disparity. [...] This is particularly troubling, since workers of color comprise over 70 percent of California restaurant workers.12 THE ROLE OF RACE AND ETHNICITY IN WAGES Although workers of color account for over two-thirds of the industry’s workforce, a large proportion of these workers are concentrated in the fast-food and family-style segments. [...] FIGURE 5 PERCENT OF LIVABLE WAGE JOBS IN SELECT TIER I OCCUPATIONS BY RACE IN THE BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA, AND THE UNITED STATES Even though there is a higher percentage of bartenders and servers of color in the Bay Area and California than in the rest of the United States, the disparity between the percent of white workers and workers of color earning a livable wage is highest in the Bay Area, and h.