Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the construction industry added jobs at the quickest pace over the past year, at 6.9%, followed by professional and business services at 5.1% and leisure and hospitality at 3.8%. The state’s slowest-growing industries over the past year were manufacturing, which grew jobs at a rate of 0.4%, and financial services, at 1%.
Mention “Industry 4.0” to most manufacturing executives and you will raise eyebrows. If they’ve heard of it, they are likely confused about what it is. If they haven’t heard of it, they’re likely to be skeptical of what they see as yet another piece of marketing hype, an empty catchphrase. And yet a closer look at what’s behind Industry 4.0 reveals some powerful emerging currents with strong potential to change the way factories work. It may be too much to say that it is another industrial revolution. But call it whatever you like; the fact is, Industry 4.0 is gathering force, and executives should carefully monitor the coming changes and develop strategies to take advantage of the new opportunities.
California should do all it can to attract these new jobs. But according to the Initiative’s numbers, California attracted only 34 reshores over the last three years, totaling 884 jobs and a mere 2.4 percent of the overall 36,325 reshored jobs. Further, California was not the destination for any of the top 10 reshoring examples noted below.
California reported the largest increase in claims of 10,917. The state attributed the change to layoffs in the service industry.
An Uber driver is an employee, not an independent contractor, the California Labor Commission ruled this month, in a decision that foreshadows a big challenge to Uber’s business model and potential seismic changes to the nation’s classifications of workers.
Fed officials sharply downgraded their economic forecast for this year. They projected the economy would grow between 1.8% and 2% this year, well below the range of 2.3% to 2.7% in its last forecast in March.
The Port of Los Angeles saw a less than 1 percent increase in container cargo movement last month compared to the year-ago period, though the increase was due to a large volume of empty containers heading back overseas.
Clothing giant Gap, Inc. (NYSE: GPS) will lay off 250 workers at its San Francisco headquarters and shutter 175 stores, the company said Monday.
It’s noteworthy that May marked California’s third consecutive month of sub-3 percent year-over-year job growth, by ADP’s math. While it’s hard to complain about growth, the last time California payrolls expanded this slowly was the first three months of 2012.
Fresno will be one of eleven “pioneering” cities nationwide participating in a new White House-sponsored initiative designed to allow local government to issue new small business licenses within 24 hours.
The National Association of Manufacturers in a quarterly outlook survey found its members now expect capital investment to grow 1.9% over the next 12 months, down from a 2.3% forecast in March. Full-time employment is expected to expand only 0.8%, down from 1.9%, and wages are seen rising 1.6%, down from 1.9%.
The report analyzes the Southern California and national “Trade and Goods Movement” industry, related infrastructure projects, and related issues such as real estate needed for industry growth. The report delves into the specifics of LA County’s top international trading partners, including a forecast for economic activity related to trade. The report also provides analysis of employment related to this key piece of the Los Angeles County regional economy.
“African Americans appear to be moving once again, but this time primarily to cities, many in the south, the very region they exited in huge numbers during the last century. Increasingly, they, as well as Latino and Asian households seeking a better future, are moving to opportunity cities. Between 2000 and 2013, the African American population of Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Raleigh, Tampa-St. Petersburg and San Antonio all experienced growth of close to 40 percent or higher, well above the average of 27 percent for the 52 metropolitan areas […] For Latinos, now the nation’s largest ethnic minority, nine of the top 13 places are held by cities wholly or partially in the old Confederacy, led by #1 Jacksonville, Florida. Current state projections in Texas indicate that Latinos will outnumber Anglos by 2025. The majority of newcomers to the South, notes a recent Pew study, are classic first-wave immigrants: young, 57 percent foreign born and not well educated; but they see the South as their land of opportunity.”
Because of California’s historic drought, the state’s rice crop will be 30 percent below normal –- at 375,000 acres. Experts say the smaller planting will hurt the economy and wildlife that depend on shallow flooded fields.
The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday retreated from new, more rigorous graduation standards out of concern that huge numbers of students would fail to earn diplomas.