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Congestion at the docks dragged down cargo volume at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles for a second consecutive month in February, according to figures released Tuesday.

“Poverty is a very difficult issue, but as yet, the Capitol is just talking about applying bandages. It will be overcome only if California attracts private investment that creates real middle-class jobs and prepares potential workers for those jobs. “

“Although the council expects California’s economy to continue to grow, the state is not without its challenges. Growth has moderated recently, and the tremendous surge in tech-related hiring and associated construction projects is unlikely to be sustained longer term. Retailers and financial services firms are still posting only modest gains. Labor disputes at West Coast ports could push importers to make more permanent adjustments to their supply chains away from Los Angeles and Long Beach. Lower oil prices are weighing on the energy producers in Kern County, and a lack of water remains a challenge for farmers and residents alike. In addition, the state’s high costs of living, combined with sluggish wage and salary growth for middle-income households, has exacerbated the outmigration of residents. Few of these problems are truly new, however, and California seems to continuously prove that none of them are insurmountable.”

Since January 2011, when Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr., became governor for the third time, the 63 publicly traded California companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 produced the best total return among the five states with the largest populations. California companies in the S&P 500 delivered returns of 134 percent; the closest big-state challenger was Florida, whose S&P companies had an 82 percent return, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Texas-based companies delivered 52 percent during the period.

Snowy and cold weather and the now-settled labor dispute at the country’s West Coast ports, which disrupted the supply chain, hurt economic activity early in the year. The persistent weakness in retail sales could temper expectations for a June interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.

The forecast calls for steady gains in employment from now through 2017 and estimates total employment will grow at a rate of 2.4 percent this year, 2.2 percent next year and 1.5 percent in 2017. Payrolls are also expected to grow at about the same rate over the next three years.

UCLA Anderson Forecast’s first quarterly report for the United States economy says that the nation “looks like an island of stability in a very volatile world.” The implication is that the U.S. is still on track for 3% GDP growth for the next two years, despite slow growth and currency devaluations throughout much of the rest of the developed world. Payroll employment is expected to increase at a 250,000-per-month pace and the national unemployment rate will hit 5% by year’s end. The California forecast is not much changed in the three months since the last release. Slightly weaker first and second quarters for 2015 are anticipated for California (when compared to the December report), which will be offset by stronger third and fourth quarters.

The short-term economic impact of the recent labor standoff at West Coast ports will be small, according to a new economic forecast, but the ports face a long-term struggle to remain competitive in the rapidly changing realm of global trade..

The official reason behind the closure was a “staffing dispute” between workers and port operators, said Port of Oakland communications director Mike Zampa. He did not offer further details.

State education officials moved Wednesday to dramatically recast California’s system to evaluate school quality by suspending the use of standardized test scores as the major yardstick in favor of a broader array of measures.

U.S. manufacturers expect sales to continue to grow this year, but fear the effects of rising health-care costs, a strong dollar and the West Coast port strike, according to a new industry survey.

The official estimate is that California will have 6.3 million job openings in the current decade, and the vast majority will not be newly created jobs but rather vacancies from baby boomer retirements.

California unemployment fell to 6.9 percent in January as the state’s economy generated 67,300 new payroll jobs, state officials said Friday.

The labor force participation rate hovered between 62.9 percent and 62.7 percent in the eleven months from April 2014 through February, and has been 62.9 percent or lower in 13 of the 17 months since October 2013.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls grew by a seasonally adjusted 295,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department said Friday. The economy has now added more than 200,000 jobs for 12 straight months, the longest such streak since 1995.