Even as California sells itself as an environmental success story during the United Nations summit here, the state is in danger of failing to meet its own targets for getting clean vehicles on the road.
These projections reveal the significant impact the aging population will have on labor demand and labor supply. Health-care jobs will grow fastest, and nearly one-quarter of the labor force will be older than prime working-age (a term that might itself need to be retired). More generally, job growth will favor women and those with advanced degrees, while men with high school degrees may face the biggest labor-market challenges.
The U.S. economy posted another month of sturdy job growth in November, paving the way for the Federal Reserve to raise short-term interest rates for the first time in a decade.
After more than four decades of serving as the nation’s economic majority, the American middle class is now matched in number by those in the economic tiers above and below it. In early 2015, 120.8 million adults were in middle-income households, compared with 121.3 million in lower- and upper-income households combined, a demographic shift that could signal a tipping point, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data.
Amid the sea of data in the report was this: California shipments to China in the August-to-October period fell by 11.4 percent, from $4.19 billion last year to $3.71 billion in 2015. Shipments declined across the board, from computer equipment to agricultural products.
Projects designed to advance California’s environmental policy objectives are the most frequent targets of CEQA lawsuits: transit is the most frequently challenged type of infrastructure project, renewable energy is the most frequently challenged type of industrial/utility project, and housing (especially higher density housing) is the most frequently challenged type of private sector project.
“Never underestimate the coercive power of a central state in the service of good and wisdom,” he said. “You can screw it up, but you can also do it well.”
“You do have to have, at the end of the day, a regulation, a law,” he said. “Progress comes from well-designed regulatory objectives that business then follows.”
The total workforce will shrink by just under 1 percent as a result of changes in worker participation because of the new coverage expansions, mandates and changes in tax rates, according to a 22-page report released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The Pacific Coast Collaborative released its 2014 jobs update report showing the strength of the West Coast’s clean economy.
The real losers will be the middle and working classes in Europe, America and East Asia, who will continue to struggle with low growth rates, diminished incomes and reduced prospects for gainful employment. The outlines of this divide, even during relatively good times, are already clearly discernible in California.
Whether the Department of Labor exemption is legal could be an unsettled issue. But even if it’s legal, it’s just one of many hurdles that the Secure Choice board must clear to create a system that can deliver meaningful benefits to its mostly low- and moderate-income beneficiaries, avoid the investment losses that have plagued public-sector pension plans, and shield employers and taxpayers from liabilities.
The U.S. trade deficit widened in October as exports resumed a steady decline, the latest sign a slumping global economy is draining foreigners’ appetite for American-made goods.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office said, “Since bottoming out in late 2011, California’s median house price has increased by 45 percent – about 10 percent a year – reaching around $450,000 as of September 2015.”
Yet, while California’s aggressive climate change policymaking hasn’t yielded dividends in CO2 emission reduction, it has produced the expected downsides – making energy more expensive. For instance, California’s all sector average electricity price in September 2015 was almost 60% higher than the rest of the nation’s average price and California’s average regular gasoline price was 33% above the national average (without California) as of November 30th. Policy decisions always have trade-offs. Those trade-offs need to be understood and debated because when looking at the facts, it becomes clear that California’s war on climate change is more rhetoric than results.