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California’s unemployment rate dipped to 7.4% in June, a month in which the state finally recovered all the jobs lost during the recession.

Omnitracs, a fleet management services company, said Friday that it will relocate early next year, generating 450 jobs and investing $10 million in Dallas. It plans to keep offices in San Diego and Baltimore.

In a vote that could highlight the difficulty in implementing additional measures to reduce carbon emissions ahead of global climate talks next year in Paris, Australia’s Senate on Thursday voted 39-32 to repeal a politically divisive carbon emissions price that contributed to the fall from power of three Australian leaders since it was first suggested in 2007.

Absent changes, gasoline and diesel fuel beginning in January will be covered under a state auction program that requires petroleum companies to obtain carbon emission credits in order to continue to operate as they gradually choke off their greenhouse gases. The minimum cost of those credits, or allowances, is unknown, but experts believe they may be in the range of $12-to-$13 each, with each credit covering a ton of carbon emissions. Millions of credits may be sold and that cost is likely to be passed on at the pump. During a recent sale, emission allowances were selling at $11.34.

Tesla Motors Inc. is taking a closer look at California to build a giant electric-car battery factory after state lawmakers proposed new tax breaks and regulatory changes that could speed its construction and lower costs.

While most indicators signal an economic upswing in California, the reality facing many residents of the Golden State is simple: On the ground, the recovery is still sluggish. Nowhere is that more apparent than in a newly developed database that includes detailed economic information on each of California’s 120 legislative districts and 58 counties.

Economic activity in the Twelfth District continued to improve moderately during the reporting period of mid-May through June. Overall price inflation remained quite modest, and wage pressures were well contained on net. Most contacts indicated that retail sales growth was unchanged from the previous Beige Book. Demand for business and consumer services ticked up. Manufacturing activity improved. Drought conditions contributed to reduced production of some fruits, vegetables, and livestock products. Activity in real estate markets advanced, although growth in the residential sector slowed somewhat. Loan demand increased overall.

The Lone Star State also had the highest total number of searchers from outside the state. Data gathered by Indeed.com’s research institute shows that people in California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Louisiana are all actively looking for jobs in Texas, with people in California and New York searching the most.

A new analysis of federal data by the Atlantic CityLab and Arizona State University found that workers in the San Jose metro area bring home real average wages — or the money left over after factoring in costs of living — of $75,288 per year. That compares to $64,321 in Stamford, Connecticut, $60,562 in San Francisco and wages in the $55,000-range in affluent sections of Maryland, North Carolina and Texas.

The output of state factories has surged 73% during the last 15 years — twice as fast as the rest of the nation — even as the sector bleeds jobs, according to a new report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Employment declined nearly 34% during the same period.

California’s high energy costs and environmental initiatives pushing green energy are making it more expensive for businesses to operate in the state, a new report finds, exacting a significant toll on low- and middle-class communities.

Los Angeles County has a unique history as a place of opportunity and growth—of providing a wide range of opportunity for people of all backgrounds, educational levels, and income groups. It is particularly famous as an engine of opportunity for the middle class—it is iconic as a place of suburbs clustered around suburbs. The absence of a core city center around which all regional activity is clustered is a testament to the overwhelming rise of a middle class who desired the relative space and distance that the suburban experience provides.

Energy, the economy and the environment – the three are inextricably linked. Energy prices impact the economy, but energy production impacts the environment.

This important interrelationship was understood to be fundamental to the formation of energy policy when each of us served as governor of California. It was true then, and it is true now. Because of this, effective energy policy in our state requires a careful balancing of coequal economic and environmental interests.

All well and good, but what about businesses that don’t qualify for tax credits? You would think legislators would recognize that with the rash of requests for tax help they are dealing with this year that something is wrong with the business climate.

Nine Assembly and Senate members, led by Assemblyman Henry T. Perea (D-Fresno), want to delay putting motor vehicle fuels under the state’s system for buying and selling the right to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.