An upcoming economic report predicts Sacramento will see modest job growth largely confined to the service sector job in 2014. Added pressure will be on hospitals due to implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and builders will continue to be hit by a cooling of the home purchasing frenzy that occurred within the last couple of years.
The economic forecasts were prepared in November 2013 by the California Department of Finance for the Governor’s Proposed Budget.
Tables: http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/FS_DATA/LatestEconData/FS_Forecasts.htm
January 8, 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s declaration of an unconditional War on Poverty, made during his 1964 State of the Union address. Although poverty remains a reality for millions of Californians, the last half-century has shown the key role that public policies can play in reducing poverty and fostering economic security. With state policymakers set to begin crafting a new state budget, this Budget Brief looks at poverty in the Golden State and discusses some ways that policymakers can help reduce economic hardship and expand pathways to opportunity and advancement.
Ron Unz, a Silicon Valley multimillionaire and registered Republican who once ran for governor and, briefly, U.S. Senate, wants state voters to endorse the wage jump that he predicts would nourish the economy and lift low-paid workers from dependency on food stamps and other assistance bankrolled by taxpayers.
A cost comparison of the staples of American diets shows that San Francisco prices are on par with those in Washington, D.C., a city with a more distant and tenuous connection to farmers.
Local unemployment is down. The Sacramento economy is slowly growing. But Sacramento’s poorest residents are reaping few of the rewards.
Congress went home for the holidays without approving a federally funded extension of jobless benefits for about 1.3 million Americans who have been out of work six months or longer.
Real GDP rose 3.6 percent after rising 2.5 percent in the second quarter. Business investment and state and local government spending picked up, and imports slowed. Consumer spending slowed.
State personal income growth slowed slightly to 1.1 percent in the third quarter of 2013, from 1.2 percent in the second quarter, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Growth slowed in 25 states, accelerated in 22, and was unchanged in 3 states and the District of Columbia. Growth across states ranged from 0.4 percent in New Mexico to 1.9 percent in Mississippi. The national price index for personal consumption expenditures increased 0.5 percent in the third quarter after remaining unchanged in the second quarter.
Real gross domestic product–the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States–increased at an annual rate of 4.1 percent in the third quarter of 2013 (that is, from the second quarter to the third quarter), according to the “third” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 2.5 percent.
November’s tax receipts could look somewhat disappointing at face value, but delays in collections and recording appear to have accounted for much of the shortfall. Relative to projections contained in the 2013-14 Budget Act, total November revenues fell $376 million, or 5.9%, shy of estimates. Those figures do not include approximately $440 million in late November sales tax deposits which, because of the late Thanksgiving holiday, were recorded to the State’s books in December.
To ensure stability and expand opportunity in California, Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Budget Committee Chair Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) released the 2014 Blueprint for a Responsible Budget today, highlighting priorities Assembly Democrats will focus on in upcoming budget deliberations.
The U.S. economy grew at a healthy 4.1% annual rate in the third quarter, revised figures showed Friday, boosting hopes that the recovery is shifting into higher gear after years of sluggishness.
While there is still reason for caution, since a large chunk of the GDP growth was the result of companies piling up goods for inventory, the larger picture is of an economy finally firing on more cylinders.
The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in almost two years in the third quarter, the government said on Friday as it revised its estimates of business and consumer spending higher.