In this Friday’s print edition, I take a closer look at whether Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to kill the state of California’s enterprise zone program will actually work. The controversial decision to phase out the program and replace it with a range of other incentives was a hot topic last week when the California Legislature approved the governor’s reforms.
Workers in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties are again among the highest-paid employees in the nation. A new report out from the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the average worker in San Mateo County earned $3,240 per week—more than three times the national average, and $1,100 more per week than the average worker in Manhattan.
The average weekly wage in San Mateo County California, the home of Silicon Valley behemoths like Facebook, increased 107.3 percent in the last quarter of 2012, making it the richest place in America — even ahead of Manhattan — all because of a little IPO that happened in May 2012. Here’s how the thinking goes: Facebook went public in May 2012. In November — 181 days after the offering — those with vested stock options could cash in. Sure, CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised not do that. But if Peter Thiel, one of the earliest and biggest investors in the social network took out something like $1 billion, you can bet some less famous names did as well. In that quarter alone, the roughly 6,200 tech workers in the area collected total wages of $6.8 billion, notes the Wall Street Journal’s Scott Thurm. “That kind of a jump can only be explained by what’s happening with stock” Doug Henton, chief executive of Collaborative Economics told Thurm. Some of that likely also came from other tech IPOs that year, but Facebook’s was by far the largest.
The nation’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group Inc., is leaving California’s individual health insurance market, the second major company to exit in advance of major changes under the Affordable Care Act.
Programs that prepare students for college and careers are about to get a jolt of one-time state money that supporters are counting on to lead to a permanent and sustainable expansion of programs.
California’s highways continue to rank among the worst in the nation — a sorry distinction the state has held for more than a decade.
. . .the newly released data provide an interesting glimpse at how salaries for both public and private sector workers are recovering from the recession. State employee salaries are growing at dramatically different speeds, in comparison to both their peers in other states and private sector workers in their own states.
Citing research by Beacon Economics, the California Bankers Association warns that limited access to mortgage credit is hindering the economy.
Company: Merced CountyCA Net Job Gain/Loss: 42Reason: ExpandCity/Region Gaining Jobs: Merced, CANotes: Call center created to help implement federal healthcare program in California
Setting the tone for his City Hall tenure, Eric Garcetti said he will make job creation one of his top priorities in his first 100 days.
Company: EnclosCA Net Job Gain/Loss: 40Reason: Expand, From Out of StateCity/Region Losing Jobs: MinnesotaCity/Region Gaining Jobs: Mare Island, CA
We told you earlier this month that Silicon Valley’s long-sought regional patent office is facing an indefinite delay. Now, the region’s congressional delegation has introduced a measure to get the project back on track.
Nobody likes high gas prices — or taxes — and Californians are about to get hit with both when a 3.5-cent increase in the state gasoline tax kicks in Monday.
Why is Silicon Valley in Silicon Valley? “You’ve got Stanford, you’ve got federal expenditures, and you’ve got an ecosystem” of start-up mentors and established institutions, said Bruce Katz, the founding director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. But Silicon Valley’s stranglehold on West Coast innovation is in danger, he said at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Friday. The main problem?
A new national ranking for job growth has been released and — surprise — California is near the top.