So there it is – seemingly unleavened good economic news. Record numbers of Californians are working and earning livings for themselves and their families.
However, there are some dark clouds on the horizon.
For one thing, data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal that California has one of the nation’s highest rates of underemployment, what it calls “U-6.” It takes into account workers who are involuntarily working part-time or are “marginally attached” to the labor force and our U-6 rate is well into double digits.
An even more troubling bit of employment data is California’s declining “workforce participation rate.”
That’s the percentage of adults (over 16 years old) who are either working or looking for work and at 61.9 percent, it’s the lowest in recorded state history and five percentage points lower than it was a decade ago, according to the Department of Employment Development.
California’s not alone among the states in seeing this decline, but it threatens to short-circuit the state’s economic expansion because employers are finding it increasingly difficult to find qualified workers.
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