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Leading the nation in job growth in 2013, Texas likewise added more houses than any other state and is host to seven of the 15 fastest-growing cities in the country, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday.

The Lone Star State added about 250,000 jobs last year, about 20,000 ahead of California. About 118,000 housing units went up in Texas in 2013, or 25% of the 467,000 erected nationwide.

The Texas growth has been fueled by expansions in nearly every industry, including technology companies in Austin, financial firms in Dallas and oil drilling operations in the outskirts.

Gov. Jerry Brown said Wednesday that California is a “job creation engine,” defending his administration’s handling of the economy and state budget in a forceful election year speech.

But recent research shows that dynamism is slowing down. Business churning and new firm formations have been on a persistent decline during the last few decades, and the pace of net job creation has been subdued. This decline has been documented across a broad range of sectors in the U.S. economy, even in high-tech.

It has become increasingly clear that economically, California is becoming increasingly divided between its prosperous coastal counties and its struggling inland counties. That split has made it important for the state’s leaders to recognize that policies that appear to make sense to those representing the state’s successful areas may be generating unintended negative consequences to the parts of the state outside of their frame of reference.

The oil and gas industry makes a significant contribution to the Californian economy. Extraction, production, refining and petroleum products manufacturing result in highly tradable products both consumed domestically and exported, producing high revenues, high wage jobs and significant fiscal revenues for all levels of government. In this report, the Economic and Policy Analysis Group of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) conducts an industry contribution analysis of the oil and gas industry in California in 2012.

A Time for Truth is a candid assessment of the challenges and opportunities Los Angeles faces. A Time for Action is the second and final report the LA 2020 Commission will publish. This report contains a series of concrete measures which, if adopted, will enhance transparency and accountability in City Hall, put Los Angeles on a path toward fiscal stability and renew job creation in the region.

Three months after it painted Los Angeles as a metropolis stumbling into decline, the Los Angeles 2020 Commission offered 13 recommendations Wednesday that it said would “put the city on a path to fiscal stability and renew job creation.”

Gases and liquids pumped out of the ground, including ethane, can be processed into chemicals that are made into products ranging from plastics and antifreeze to cosmetics. New petrochemical projects are under way, with Dow Chemical, Sasol Ltd., Phillips 66 and other companies building 148 factories and plant expansions, thanks to the plentiful natural gas now available in the U.S., the American Chemistry Council said.

The state of California will implement a strategy to expand international trade and foreign investment that will create jobs, increase revenues for California enterprises, and improve California’s international competitiveness; and which is also in concert with protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development.

Commissioned by the Southern California Association of Governments to examine the Golden State’s $100 million annual tax program, the report found an 11 percent return on investment in the program’s first three years.

The Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization showcased nine companies at an annual luncheon Wednesday whose expansions or moving to the region will create 1,485 new jobs.

The Brown administration  released a blueprint Thursday for increasing California exports and foreign investment, mostly though educating statewide businesses on trade opportunities and by strengthening relationships with federal and foreign trade officials.

MOUNTAIN VIEW – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today signed a broad agreement to develop joint projects and conduct mutually beneficial research in California and Israel.

Federal officials announced Friday that the ongoing drought in California means there likely will be no water available for agricultural water customers in the Central Valley this year, including its customers in the Sacramento Valley.

As the U.S. economy gains strength and states are in their best financial position in years, governors are proposing unconventional tactics to create jobs, especially in health care and high-tech.