News

Those are the simple, if harsh, facts of life in what used to be the Golden State. It’s a great place to live if you can afford it, but it’s a daily struggle if you can’t – and too many can’t.

The homeless population jumped 12% in the last two years in both the city and county of Los Angeles, driven by soaring rents, low wages and stubbornly high unemployment, according to a report released Monday.

A third of California’s employed workers are “low-wage” and their ranks are growing, according to a new study from the Center for Labor Research and Education at University of California’s Berkeley campus..

Trade figures released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday suggest gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic output, contracted in the first three months of the year.

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Real gross domestic product — the value of the production of goods and services in the United States, adjusted for price changes — increased at an annual rate of 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 2.2 percent.

The U.S. economy slowed to a crawl at the start of the year as businesses slashed investment, exports tumbled and consumers showed signs of caution, marking a return to the uneven growth that has been a hallmark of the nearly six-year economic expansion.

A new study by the California Housing Partnership found that the state’s lowest-income households spend two-thirds of their income on housing, leaving little money for food, healthcare, transportation and other needs.

What struck me as noteworthy wasn’t the LAO’s California share of monthly growth chart, but rather the analysis’ first California map, which depicts a stark and concerning reality about the state’s job market; it is perilously reliant on one region: the Bay Area/Silicon Valley. This is concerning because it’s a relatively recent reality.

Data released Thursday by the Labor Department shows that the number of families with at least one unemployed member fell to 6.5 million last year from 7.7 million in 2013. But at 8%, the percentage of such families remains above pre-recession levels–6.4% in 2006 and 6.3% in 2007. A breakdown by racial group shows how the effects of the downturn still linger.

As a recent report from the Brookings Institution reveals, income disparities are widest in the nation’s bluest – most liberal – cities and much narrower elsewhere. . . Blue-city politicians claim to help the poor with increases in minimum wages, but the burden of paying them mostly hits small employers, rather than the 5-percenters, and thus may eliminate jobs.

“While the drought is affecting many Californians and communities in different ways, we currently do not expect the drought to have a significant effect on statewide economic activity or state government revenues,” Tuesday’s report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office read. “That being said, we acknowledge the drought as a risk factor for the state’s economy, especially if its effects worsen or are prolonged.”

Unless it alters its current funding structure, CalPERS will be even more vulnerable to market losses in the next economic downturn than it was during its devastating plunge in the Great Recession. . . Most of the CalPERS governing board members recognize the adjustments are needed, but they have yet to determine the details and price. They’re trying to temper the impact on state and local governments, which already face pension rate increases of roughly 35 percent to 50 percent over the next six years from the three prior calculation changes.

“High student debt, poor job prospects and shifting attitudes are inhibiting homeownership among younger Americans who came of age during the latest recession, potentially hindering the accumulation of wealth for that generation, Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard said Thursday. “If the decline in homeownership among young people proves persistent, the implications for asset building for the future could be of concern, since homeownership remains an important avenue for accumulating wealth, particularly for those with limited means,” Ms. Brainard said in remarks prepared for a community development research conference.”

Better education would lift the earnings of men in the bottom half of the income scale but wouldn’t be enough to erase inequality between the rich and poor, according to a new paper.