Sacramento’s economy will continue growing this year but will continue to suffer from a shortage of high-paying jobs, according to a closely-watched forecast released Tuesday. . . “The bad news is that the job recovery has occurred in sectors that are traditionally filled by unskilled and lower-wage labor,” the report said.
California is a single state, but many economies. The recovery of the entire state obscures the struggles of many regions and industries. Geographically, our economic divide has worsened. We have wealthy coastal enclaves and poor inland communities; a booming high technology sector and low-wage service businesses. Nearly a quarter of Californians still live in poverty.
California has a decades-long history of switching not only its entire budget but particular revenues and expenses back and forth between cash and accrual – and hybrids – in response to current fiscal and political conditions.
About 1,600 fewer California students were enrolled at UC’s nine undergraduate campuses last fall as compared with the fall 2014 semester, including 1,317 fewer resident freshmen. UC declined to provide a breakdown by campus.
Each of the two major lawsuits, introduced within weeks of each other 27 years ago, offers enduring lessons – in law, in politics and in the long, long time it takes to get things done in Washington.
State taxation of multistate and multinational corporations is not an issue for the fainthearted.
While proposing a $170.7 billion state budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year that begins on July 1, Brown stressed that the plan would continue to fill the rainy-day fund that voters, at his behest, adopted in 2014 as a buffer against a future economic downturn.
Gov. Jerry Brown, issuing a $170.6 billion state spending plan Thursday, proposed billions of dollars in new funding for schools, climate change programs and services for the elderly and disabled.
The value of California’s merchandise exports in November was $12.86 billion, down 13.6 percent from $14.89 billion in November 2014 and the worst November showing since 2009, according to Beacon Economics.
If we are serious about exempting “necessities” from taxes, the list will become very long, but if we do it, we should also be willing to do a top-to-bottom overhaul of taxation to close egregious loopholes.
In an opening to this year’s budget negotiations at the Capitol, Senate Democrats on Monday proposed a $2 billion bond to build homes for homeless people with mental illnesses.
The measure would be funded by Proposition 63, the existing, 1 percent income tax on Californians earning $1 million or more per year to pay for mental health services.
Allison Mac, a Los Angeles-based petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, said the recent spikes were tied to a flurry of breakdowns and “maintenance issues” at multiple Golden State refineries that produce the specific blend of gas required in California.
The latest result from the bureau’s annual survey of state and local government employees confirms a long-standing trend – that California has a below-average number of people on its public payrolls but above-average costs.
If these trends continue – and there’s no reason to believe they won’t – the redrawing of legislative and congressional districts should see a noticeable shift from Southern California to Northern California and particularly the Bay Area.
California – and particularly Los Angeles County – are leading the nation in non-Anglo business ownership, a new Census Bureau report says.