(Image source from: Middle-income worker’s wages shrinks})

California's job market is the fastest-growing in the nation and the state's unemployment rate is at its lowest levels in seven years. According to a new research, the state's middle-income earners continued to see their wages decline in 2014. Those who were earning $19.18 an hour or about $39,800 a year, are still 1.8% lower than what they were in 2011.

"Typically, you've seen the middle class as the key to economic mobility, a way to climb the economic ladder. They are feeling a very specific pinch right now," said Luke Reidenbach, a policy analyst at the nonprofit Sacramento research group.

"The way that recoveries tend to work is that low-wage workers are hired first, because they're cheaper," he said. "The hope is that as the economy continues to improve, mid-wage workers will see raises as well," he added.

"These diverging fortunes have led to a widening gulf between higher-wage workers and everyone else," the report concludes.

By Premji