Californians on average saw their personal income increase 6.3 percent last year compared to 2014, the largest increase of any state, according to a new report Thursday from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The Latino population in Los Angeles County continues to grow robustly while, simultaneously, experiencing income growth. Put these two together and the County and big business benefit from a rapidly growing consumer base. Indeed, from 2000 to 2014, the number of Latinos in the County grew by 15.5%, compared to a 1.1% decline in the rest of the population. Meanwhile, the aggregate income among Latino head-of-households grew from $45.9 billion to $72.4 billion in 2014
California State Controller Betty T. Yee today issued the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015, showing that a resurgent economy led to a $29.6 billion increase in revenues in the 2014-15 fiscal year. While spending and transfers also went up, the increases were not enough to offset the additional revenue, resulting in a $13.1 billion improvement in governmental activities’ net position. . . This CAFR incorporates major changes to reflect the state’s net pension liability. Based on guidance from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), the new figure more accurately reflects a government’s unfunded pension obligation, helping policymakers decide on future funding strategies. Using these standards, the CAFR reports a net pension liability of $63.7 billion as of June 30, 2015.
Most cities are economically weak actors with limited ability to affect the critical forces driving their economies. Furthermore, changes in the structure of the economy often have changed the composition of urban leadership in ways that break the link between personal and community success and create an additional bias in favor of subsidized real estate development as a civic strategy. Less dependent on the local market, this local leadership increasingly identifies with a global community and its concerns in ways that have lowered the civic priority placed on inclusive economic development and entrepreneurship. To change these trends, local leadership should focus on inclusive local economic success first and make policies that reflect that priority and address areas where local government can make an impact. Creating an entrepreneur- and business-friendly local regulatory environment is a key piece of this effort, and the delivery of high-quality basic public services is vital.
California has a lot to crow about. In the last four years the state has accelerated to become one of the fastest growing in the nation, according to the latest quarterly report from the California Chamber of Commerce Economic Advisory Council.
But in places from Music City to the Chicago suburbs to the California coast, wages are growing much faster. Weekly wages grew 4% or better in 44 of the 342 U.S. counties with at least 75,000 jobs, according to Labor Department data released Wednesday. Meanwhile, wages fell from a year earlier in 21 counties, including Midland, Texas, and Union, N.J.
Economic Report of the President and Annual Reprot of the Council of Economic Advisors.
The report finds that many new jobs in California are in low-wage industries, and the post-recession period favored low-wage job growth over middle-wage and high-wage job growth throughout the state by a wide margin. However, when compared with the rest of the nation, the trend of low-wage job creation is not unique to California.
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in 47 states [CA at 2.1%] and the District of Columbia in the third quarter of 2015, according to statistics on the geographic breakout of GDP released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Overall, U.S. real GDP by state growth slowed to an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2015 after increasing 3.8 percent in the second quarter. Retail trade; health care and social assistance; and agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting were the leading contributors to real U.S. economic growth in the third quarter.
The Distressed Communities Index (DCI) is a customized dataset created by EIG examining economic distress throughout the country and made up of interactive maps, infographics, and a report. It captures data from more than 25,000 zip codes (those with populations over 500 people). In all, it covers 99 percent — 312 million — of Americans.
Growth in “labor quality,” a measure of the skill set of the average worker, has declined in the last few years, according to the report. In 2015, the growth in overall workforce skills contributed less than 0.1 percentage points to GDP growth, the smallest contribution of labor quality to growth since 1979. Michael Feroli, the author of the note, estimates that contribution will remain below 0.1 percentage points for the next few years.
Thumbing through the annual report of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is always an education. This year’s 430-page edition is no exception. Crammed with tables and charts, it brims with useful facts and insights.
Personal spending rose 0.5% in January from the prior month, the Commerce Department said on Friday, and Americans’ pretax earnings from salaries and investments increased at the same pace.
Real gross domestic product increased 1% in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to a second estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Friday. The data is an expansion from the 0.7% growth initially reported last month.
Cochrane shows the power of economic growth on individuals by demonstrating when the United States enjoyed 3.5% economic growth from 1950 to 2000, an individual’s income rose from $16,000 to $50,000 (measured in 2009 dollars.) Had the economy grown at 2%–about the growth rate the country has experienced since 2000—the individual’s income would be $23,000, not $50,000. Quite a difference.