“Exceptional” drought conditions have spread in Central California since a week ago, weather officials said. Areas in Northern California have also moved into this category since last week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The statewide unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percentage point, to 7.6 percent, the Employment Development Department reported Friday. It was the lowest level since August 2008, a month before the market crash tipped the country into recession.
College-educated Americans tend to know mostly other college-educated Americans and to think that is the norm, if not universal. In fact, just three in 10 Americans age 25 or older have bachelor’s degrees. Another 8% are high-school dropouts, leaving the overwhelming majority—more than 60%—in circumstances something like Mr. Blazier’s.
U.S. chief executives are slightly less positive about the economy’s growth prospects this year and fewer of them expect to increase their capital expenditures in the next six months, according to a quarterly by the Business Roundtable released on Tuesday.
In the recurring rhetoric of business vs. labor, the measures either protect workers or destroy work. The measures sit on the “job killer” list, published each year by the California Chamber of Commerce, that previews where business interests will play defense against the Democratic-controlled Legislature. All three have emerged from the Assembly and are advancing through the Senate.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Wednesday that the economy should grow at much stronger rates the rest of this year as the country overcomes the impact of a harsh winter. But Lew said millions of Americans continue to struggle as unemployment remains too high and economic growth is too slow.
It has been five years since the official end of that severe economic downturn. The nation’s total annual output has moved substantially above the prerecession peak, but economic growth has averaged only about 2 percent a year, well below its historical average. Household incomes continue to stagnate, and millions of Americans still can’t find jobs. And a growing number of experts see evidence that the economy will never rebound completely.
Nearly one in four Los Angeles area employers plan to hire more workers during the third quarter, the best showing in several years, according to a survey released today from Manpower Inc.
Calling growth in the state’s sales tax receipts “weaker than expected in recent months,” Chiang said he was surprised, “given the improvement in the State’s other major revenues and the economy in general.”
The tax credits are offered to companies interested in expanding or relocating to California. GO-Biz is recommending 31 companies – including 11 small businesses – for a total of approximately $30 million in tax credits. According to the 31 companies, these credits could help create approximately 6,000 jobs and spur more than $2 billion in investment across California. These companies represent industries such as manufacturing, biotech, agriculture, food processing, aerospace, high tech, clean tech and more.
Last year, Steinberg got a bill passed that bent the CEQA rules to expedite the proposed new arena in downtown Sacramento. Two years before, the billionaire owner of Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles also got legislative relief for his proposed and still-unbuilt football stadium.
If Steinberg wants to leave an economic legacy larger than Musk’s battery factory (which, again, we support), he would use this opportunity to get CEQA fixed – not just for billionaires and sports teams – but for everyone.
Los Angeles County has established very close economic ties with China. The Los Angeles Customs District (LACD) handles over 40% of total U.S., trade with China. Indeed, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together handle nearly 37% of total trade between China and the U.S. In fact, roughly 60% of two-way trade volumes at the Port of LA and the Port of Long Beach and over 50% of the total two-way trade value at the Los Angeles Customs District (LACD) are related to trade with China.
With the U.S. economy advancing slowly but surely in 2013 and with the nation’s major trading partners in various stages of recovery or expansion, international trade at the national level grew modestly last year and let to continued improvement in the Southern California goods movement and trade picture. The Los Angeles Customs District (LACD) held onto the top spot among customs districts for two-way trade last year, while container activity at the San Pedro ports – the largest port complex in the Western Hemisphere — finally rose above the 14 million container plateau of recent years. Transportation and warehousing employment increased for the third year in a row.
Each month since April 2012 except one, Los Angeles County has seen at least 2% year-over-year job growth, compared with a 1.7% average across the country.
Unemployment fell from 3.3 to 3.2 percent for people with a bachelor’s degree or more, and from 5.7 to 5.5 percent for those with some college. But it actually rose from 6.3 to 6.5 percent for people with only a high school diploma, and from 8.9 to 9.1 percent for those without one.