03/29/2024

Don’t Delay Programs to Grow Manufacturing Jobs in CA

Every manufacturing investment and job creation decision is made by company executives who are looking down the road at future costs, taxes, and regulations. Many states and countries want to attract manufacturing investments and jobs. If they have longstanding policies that will be in effect for ten or more years, they will beat out the locations with policies that expire in the short term. In fact, the larger and more important the investments, the more risk averse company executives will be; they will assume the expiration in existing law will occur, as promised.

Lawmakers may believe that California will nevertheless attract manufacturing jobs and investments even without the policies under discussion, but the data states otherwise. Since 2001 California has attracted less than 2 percent of US manufacturing new sites or expansions, far lower than the state’s share of manufacturing GDP. More recently the re-shoring surge shows a similar loss to the rest of the country, with under 2 percent of those jobs coming to California since 2013. That means manufacturing jobs and investments are now shifting to other locations under our noses and long-term policies to keep manufacturers here are crucial.

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