This pamphlet was commissioned by the California Speaker’s Commission on Labor Education and produced by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, and answers basic questions about unions and the labor movement. An informative, readable and attractive resource for unions, schools, community groups and others.
This comprehensive reference report measures the performance of 16 different state workers’ compensation systems, how they compare with each other, and how they have changed over time.
More than one-quarter (27 percent) of the nation’s major urban roads– Interstates, freeways and other arterial routes – have pavements that are in substandard condition and provide an unacceptably rough ride to motorists, costing the average urban driver $377 annually, a total of $80 billion nationwide. In some areas, driving on deteriorated roadways costs the average driver more than $800 each year. Driving on roads in disrepair increases consumer costs by accelerating vehicle deterioration and depreciation and increasing needed maintenance, fuel consumption and tire wear.
The modern market is characterized by mobile capital and labor, with all types of business, small and large, tending to locate where they have the greatest competitive advantage. The evidence shows that states with the best tax systems will be the most competitive in attracting new businesses and most effective at generating economic and employment growth. It is true that taxes are but one factor in business decision-making. Other concerns, such as raw materials or infrastructure or a skilled labor pool, matter, but a simple, sensible tax system can positively impact business operations with regard to these very resources. Furthermore, unlike changes to a state’s healthcare, transportation, or education systems which can take decades to implement changes to the tax code can quickly improve a state’s business climate.
State personal incomes grew 1.0 percent on average in the second quarter of 2013 after falling 1.3 percent in the first quarter, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal income growth ranged from 1.5 percent in Florida and Arizona to -0.7 percent in Nebraska. The national price index for personal consumption expenditures was unchanged in the second quarter after rising 0.3 percent in the first quarter.
This study evaluates the ratepayer impacts of the California net energy metering (NEM) program and fulfills the requirements of Assembly Bill (AB) 2514 (Bradford, 2012)1 and Commission Decision (D.) 12-05-036 to determine “who benefits, and who bears the economic burden, if any, of the net energy metering program,” by October 1, 2013.
California’s economy continues to post strong year-to-year gains but growth no longer appears to be accelerating. Nonfarm employment has increased 1.6% over the past year, producing a net gain of 236,400 jobs. By contrast, employment rose 2.3% during the prior year.
A new way of measuring poverty in California shows that 22 percent of residents lived in poor families in 2011. It also underscores the importance of the social safety net for many families in the state. The safety net’s impact on children is especially dramatic—without the need-based programs included in the new measure, 39 percent (or 3.6 million California children) would be considered poor. A companion report released by the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality examines regional and demographic differences in poverty.
California will experience faster economic growth in 2014 and 2015, according to the latest projection from the Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific. The Center forecasts real gross state product will grow 3.3% in 2014, and accelerate to 3.9% in 2015 as the housing recovery begins to fuel new construction and job growth. The nearly 4% growth rate in 2015 will be the highest California has experienced since 2005.
The American Community Survey (ACS) and the Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS) ask respondents age 1 year and over whether they lived in the same residence 1 year ago. For people who lived in a different residence, the location of their previous residence is collected. The state-to-state migration flows are created from tabulations of the current state (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) of residence crossed by state of residence 1 year ago. Tables of ACS state-to-state flows are available going back to the 2005 ACS – the first year of full implementation of the survey. People living in group quarters (e.g. adult correctional facilities, nursing facilities, college/university student housing, and military quarters) were added to the sample for the first time starting with the 2006 ACS.
“Between August 27 and September 5, Hoover’s Golden State Poll (a joint collaboration of the Hoover Institution and the research firm YouGov) surveyed 1,000 Californians on their confidence in California’s recovery – their job security and pocketbook choices (last October, a Hoover/YouGov survey sampled Californians’ attitudes toward state government and policy choices in Sacramento). . . . Twice as many Californians reported being worse-off financially (33%) than better off (17%) over the last year. . . . Among survey respondents who are currently employed, more than half (55%) said they weren’t confident in their ability to find another job in California within 6 months that pays as much as they are making now.”
The five states with the highest average combined rates are Tennessee (9.44 percent), Arkansas (9.18 percent), Louisiana (8.89 percent), Washington (8.87 percent), and Oklahoma (8.72 percent). . . California, which raised its sales and income taxes through the initiative process in November of 2012, has the highest state-level rate at 7.5 percent.] Five states tie for the second-highest statewide rate with 7 percent each: Indiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Tennessee.
The California Film & Television Tax Credit Program (Program) was enacted in February 2009 as part of a targeted economic stimulus package to increase film and television production spending, jobs and tax revenues in California. The Program has just commenced its 5th fiscal year. This report will summarize the Program’s progress from its launch in July 2009 through June 2013, and includes spending estimates and project information for the current fiscal year (July 2013 – June 2014). The report also includes a brief overview of California’s entertainment industry and the growing competition for our state’s motion picture production spending, as well as supplementary background on the changing landscape for scripted television series production.
California’s job market is experiencing a sustained increase in employment as the state continues to emerge from the Great Recession. However, even with unemployment falling, California’s job market recovery has not reached large segments of California’s workers. After more than three years of job growth, the pace of the recovery has been on par with that of previous recoveries in the state, which is bad news for California’s workers given the historic severity of job losses during the Great Recession. A majority of California counties still have unemployment rates in the double digits, and long-term unemployment remains a serious concern: More than two in five unemployed Californians have been searching for work for at least six months. And for those who do have work, this recovery has not yet produced the mix of jobs that would lead to broad-based economic growth. California’s recovery has disproportionately relied on low-wage service industries for job growth, and jobs generally have not returned in occupations that tend to pay wages in the middle of the earnings distribution. These weaknesses in the current recovery mean that challenges facing California even before the recession began, such as wage stagnation and widening inequality, continue today.
This summary report provides statistics from the revised 2011 estimates for the employment of nearly 90,000 state and local governments in the United States. It shows statistics on the number of state and local government civilian employees and their gross payrolls for the month of March 2011. Statistics include government functions such as education, fire protection and police protection. Statistics are available for the nation and individual states.