California appeared to go in the opposite direction of the national economy in January, shedding a net 31,600 jobs that month, the state’s Employment Development Department reported Friday.
Over the past 15 years, the state’s share as a filming location of the top 25 live-action films significantly dropped to 8 percent last year from 64 percent, illustrating the effect of runaway production. Including animated films, California’s market share of the top 25 films was 24 percent.
Set to be released Thursday, the study entitled “A Hollywood Exit: What California Must Do to Remain Competitive in Entertainment — and Keep Jobs,” paints a bleak picture of the jobs California has lost to New York and other rivals due to the proliferation of film tax credits and rebates.
Dozens of Los Angeles film and television workers gathered at Los Angeles City Hall on Monday night to share somber stories of layoffs and diminishing job opportunities in the entertainment industry.
It’s been “disheartening as we have watched feature film work flee the city, and television production drop precipitously. Many people have dropped out altogether,” one source told us via our Public Insight Network. On Facebook, Rita Lilly wrote: “Finding work for a lot of nice, hard-working, middle-class people is becoming progressively harder.”
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.
In all but forcing out fossil-fuel firms, California is shedding one of its historic core industries. Not long ago, California was home to a host of top 10 energy firms – ARCO, Getty Oil, Union Oil, Oxy and Chevron; in 1970, oil firms constituted the five largest industrial companies in the state. Now, only Chevron, which has been reducing its headcount in Northern California and is clearly shifting its emphasis to Texas, will remain.
Unusually cold weather in January chilled factories’ output and froze up some mining operations but boosted utility consumption as Americans huddled for warmth. Total industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in January, the Federal Reserve said Friday. It was the first decline for the reading since July.
The second reason why the Index is troubling is because our prosperity is not widely shared. It is a story the Index has been telling for many years, but in this 2014 installment the gaps and disparities are more pronounced than ever. These are the hard facts: our income gains are limited to those with ultra high-end skills. Median wages for low- and middle-skilled workers are relatively stagnant and the share of households with mid-level incomes has fallen in Silicon Valley more than in the state and nation. Disparities by race are more persistent than ever. We also saw a sharp increase in homelessness.
After a frustratingly slow recovery from the severe recession of 2007 to 2009, the economy will grow at a solid pace in 2014 and for the next few years, CBO projects. Real GDP (output adjusted to remove the effects of inflation) is expected to increase by roughly 3 percent between the fourth quarter of 2013 and the fourth quarter of 2014—the largest rise in nearly a decade. Similar annual growth rates are projected through 2017. Nevertheless, CBO estimates that the economy will continue to have considerable unused labor and capital resources (or “slack”) for the next few years. Although the unemployment rate is expected to decline, CBO projects that it will remain above 6.0 percent until late 2016. Moreover, the rate of participation in the labor force—which has been pushed down by the unusually large number of people who have decided not to look for work because of a lack of job opportunities—is projected to move only slowly back toward what it would be without the cyclical weakness in the economy.
The bills are part of a greater movement among states to stop contracting out in cases when the work is seen as better suited for public employees — an effort largely organized by the nation’s largest public services employees union, AFSCME.
The Home Depot Inc. says it’s preparing to hire 80,000 workers as it prepares for spring, the company’s busiest selling season . . . The do-it-yourself giant’s hiring website currently lists 16,928 open positions nationwide, including 232 openings for part-time workers in California, 178 in Texas, 100 in New York,
HGST, a unit of Western Digital, intends to construct two big, new buildings in south San Jose in an expansion of its campus that could create up to 1,700 jobs and help develop a transit and technology village for the area, according to documents filed with city planners.HGST, a unit of Western Digital, intends to construct two big, new buildings in south San Jose in an expansion of its campus that could create up to 1,700 jobs and help develop a transit and technology village for the area, according to documents filed with city planners.
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.
FilmL.A.’s 20 year retrospective on local film production analyzes patterns of growth and decline in local filming brought about by developments in the U.S. domestic film, television and commercial production market. The report includes a detailed examination of filming trends across nine distinct project categories, with guidance on data interpretation for lay audiences.