About 83 percent of students in the Class of 2016 who took the California High School Exit Exam for the first time this spring passed the English section, while 85 percent passed in math, according to statewide figures released Friday.
New figures highlight the growing gap between owners and renters in the Southland: Many homeowners are capitalizing on low interest rates to push down their monthly payment while renters are shelling out larger shares of their income to stay afloat.
The plant pays an average wage of $24 an hour, plus benefits. The region is losing very good middle-class jobs, said Antonio Castro, president of Local 59G of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.
California’s unemployment rate was unchanged for a third month, holding at 7.4 percent in August, officials said Friday.
Real GDP increased in 292 of the nation’s 381 metropolitan areas in 2013, led by widespread growth in finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing, nondurable-goods manufacturing, and professional and business services, according to new statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Natural resources and mining also spurred strong growth in several metropolitan areas. Collectively, real GDP for U.S. metropolitan areas increased 1.7 percent in 2013 after increasing 2.6 percent in 2012.
Compared with local governments, which rely to a greater extent on property taxes, states generate the bulk of their revenue from taxes levied on current economic activity, namely personal income and consumption. Therefore, when the economy operates below its potential, state tax revenues tend to suffer. Insofar as income inequality contributes to economic output falling short of potential, it undermines the growth of states’ tax bases.
Our analysis found a negative relationship between income inequality and state tax revenue tends. When we tested the relationship by tax structure, we found the negative effect was stronger and only statistically significant in the sales tax-reliant states. The findings support our view that rising income inequality contributes to weaker tax revenue growth by undermining the rate of overall economic expansion.
The economic recovery in California struggled through the first half of the year but now is picking up speed, driven by improvements in the real estate and the job markets, according to a quarterly report from Beacon Economics and City National Bank..
In the California forecast for September 2014, UCLA Anderson Senior Economist Jerry Nickelsburg writes, “The California economy is moving forward in an expansion from the depths of the Great Recession. But, even though the number of jobs is now higher than any time in the past, the state remains below its potential in output and employment. That we are entering the sixth year of expansion illustrates just how painfully plodding this recovery process has been.”
Georgia’s success has come from dead reckoning in areas that are crucial to business locators. That includes the state’s welcoming and business-friendly government, to be sure. And employers are enthusiastic about one of the Georgia legislature’s most recent moves: passing significant workers’ compensation reform that cuts costs for business.
Preliminary statistics from the BLS show that employment in those two industries has dropped to 298,000 in August — marking the first time in the past decade that the number has dropped below 300,000, and representing an 8% decline from 324,600 jobs in August 2013, and a 19% slide from 366,300 jobs in August 2012.
California earns a below average grade preparing its students to compete in a global economy, with only 23% of students proficient in reading and math compared with an international standard.
California drivers pay a staggering $44 billion a year in extra car costs because of traffic jams that seemingly grow worse by the day, spreading potholes and outdated roads and bridges, according to a national highway advocacy group.
The third-quarter report, released Thursday, predicts that the state unemployment rate will sink to 5.7% by the end of 2016 from 7.4% now. That would continue to top the national rate, which UCLA economists expect will fall to 5.3% from its current 6.1%.
Gov. Jerry Brown will soon sign California’s ban on single use plastic grocery bags. Nothing better represents the de-industrialization of this state; the aversion of California’s elites to the manufacture of products they don’t like even if they are a convenience provided free to consumers.
Citing Nevada’s ability to cut through red tape, the chief executive of Tesla Motors Inc. confirmed Thursday that his electric-car company has chosen a site near Reno for a 6,500-job battery factory.
Speaking with Gov. Brian Sandoval in front of hundreds of supporters on the steps of the Capitol, CEO Elon Musk said “time to execution” was the biggest reason he chose Nevada for the coveted factory. He said speed was more important than financial incentives, which state officials said would total between $675 million and $1.1 billion over 20 years.