From the end of the Second World War until a few years ago, when it cooled off, productivity surged across the U.S. economy, giving rise to what’s often called the “productivity miracle.” From manufacturing to agriculture to retail, industry after industry became cheaper, faster, more mechanized, and more efficient. But the same can’t be said […]
Inside these restaurants, it’s evident that the forces making this one of the most expensive cities in America are subtly altering the economics of everything. Commercial rents have gone up. Labor costs have soared. And restaurant workers, many of them priced out by the expense of housing, have been moving away. Restaurateurs who say they […]
Statewide, only a few majors are gender balanced—meaning that half the bachelor’s degrees are awarded to women and half to men. In 2016, according to federal data, among the 22 most popular majors in California’s public and private nonprofit colleges, more than 60% of the bachelor’s degrees in 10 majors and fewer than 45% of […]
The overall economy appears to be growing at a steady pace, but there are potential threats that could affect the United States and California economic outlooks, according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast’s second quarterly report for 2018. The risk of a trade war with one or more of the major U.S. trading partners, the uncertainties […]
There are concerns that the Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) has impeded small business lending. By increasing the fixed regulatory compliance requirements needed to make business loans and operate a bank, the DFA disproportionately reduced the incentives for all banks to make very modest loans and reduced the viability of small banks, whose small-business share of C&I […]
Possibly the biggest reason for the Obama administration’s failure to reignite normal economic growth following the Financial Crisis was the Dodd-Frank law. It not only didn’t make the financial system safer, it all but killed small business growth. A new study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the quasi-private think tank that […]
Plenty of workers still move West each year for a new job in California. But the state’s high cost of housing may be deterring many other job seekers from moving into the state. Business leaders up and down the state say California’s expensive housing makes it challenging to recruit new workers — and to keep […]
The California economy cooled a bit in May as employers added just 5,500 net jobs. The unemployment rate held steady at a record low of 4.2%, according to data released Friday by the state’s Employment Development Department. The numbers reflect a slowdown from April, when the state added 25,600 jobs, according to Friday’s downward revision. […]
There are multiple reasons for this union effect. Collective bargaining agreements often standardize wage rates across similar occupations doing similar tasks, and establish objective procedures for hiring and awarding raises and promotions. Unions can narrow the wage gap between workers with different skills; they can also increase skill levels by providing high-quality apprenticeships and other […]
Unions have historically played a role in improving wages and benefits by enabling workers to join together to negotiate with employers. Recent research finds a persistent positive effect of unions on members’ wages and household income (Farber et al. 2018). On their own, individual workers have little bargaining power with employers. When bargaining together, workers […]
The Bay Area’s growing manufacturing sector is often portrayed as the region’s last best chance to bring back some of the well-paying, blue-collar jobs that have been disappearing for decades. But entrepreneurs at the forefront of the so-called “modern maker” movement — nimble boutique companies crafting everything from robots and drones to custom eyeglasses and […]
Just weeks after passing a new tax on big businesses, Seattle political leaders signaled late Monday they would reverse course and repeal it. Mayor Jenny Durkan and city council President Bruce Harrell said in statements that they would end the tax, initially meant to combat rising homelessness in a city where housing prices have soared. […]
As California leaders prepare this week to change the way the state funds its community colleges, a revolt is growing among professors who say it’s too much too soon for a system already undergoing rapid transformations to improve dismal student outcomes. Over the past two months, the academic senates from at least half a dozen […]
Some of the crucial ingredients of broadly shared prosperity in the U.S. economy include a dynamic market where new ideas can thrive, new businesses can reshape the economic landscape, and vigorous competition allocates resources efficiently. Our collective imagination of the U.S. economy is often one of bold entrepreneurs reshaping the world. TV shows us a […]
But arguably the biggest problem facing Southern California is seen in the decline in higher-paying blue-collar jobs, which long provided opportunity for newcomers and working-class people. With an estimated 348,000 industrial jobs, Los Angeles retains the biggest manufacturing workforce in the nation. But industrial jobs are up sharply nationwide, while L.A. has lost 6.8 percent […]