Yeah, that’s what was published in the Los Angeles Times last week. California the fifth largest economy in the world per the same LA Times ( California is now the world’s fifth-largest economy, surpassing United Kingdom ) added a mere 800 jobs last month and the State is spinning this as a victory.( California gains just 800 jobs in June; unemployment remains at record low )
Does anybody out there have a problem with these numbers? Oh, per the article, April jobs were 26,000, May 7,200 and June 800.
Am I the only one seeing a trend in the wrong direction here?
The Party line is summarized by Michael Bernick, former Director of EDD, “California has a broad and diverse economy, and we’re now in our 99th month of employment expansion,” he said in an email.
Once again, I invoke the saying, “there are lies, damn lies, and statistics”.
So where were the growth areas in June’s job report? Government, tech and Hollywood. All other sectors lost jobs.
Last month, employers in four of California’s 11 industry sectors added jobs.
The education and health services sector gained the most, growing by 8,000 jobs. The information sector, which includes tech companies and Hollywood studios, grew by 4,600 jobs.
Employers in the government sector and the professional and business services sector also added jobs.
The other seven sectors saw job losses. Leisure and hospitality cut 4,000 jobs. The construction sector shrank by 2,900. Trade, transportation and utilities lost 2,600 jobs. Employers in manufacturing, finance, mining and logging and “other services” also trimmed payrolls.
Given the above, the bean counters in Sacramento are offering two explanations but choosing neither.
Option 1
The slowdown could signal that California is simply reaching full employment. Employers are struggling to find workers.
Option 2
It’s Trump’s fault because he is starting a trade war with Wal-Mart, oops, I mean China.
Bernick and others said that the economy appears mostly healthy despite the poor June numbers. But Bernick said federal trade policy could hamper further job growth.
“A widening trade war is the main threat to California’s continued employment expansion,” he said.
If you drill down into the numbers, only government or things that it subsidizes are growing. The private sector is clearly contracting. Given our tax burden this is not a surprise.
If California’s economy is so great, then why is the California economic news all about homeless people and illegal immigrants when we are supposed to be at full employment? Full employment means that everyone has a job and wages are increasing due to a shortage of qualified workers.
We have millions of able bodied people on the dole in our State. California has one third of all welfare cases in the United States, a huge chunk of illegal aliens, and a large portion of the nation’s homeless. Liberals admit that these problems are getting worst not better but on the other-hand, these same folks are claiming we are at full employment. Can you say logical disconnect?
The reality is we have a shortage of housing that normal people can afford. Heck, apparently folks in San Francisco are so miserable that they can’t even afford toilet paper and indoor plumbing.
This is one of the results of socialism. Under socialists and totalitarians, there is an elite group of haves and another of have-nots. The middleclass all but disappears leaving a huge gulf between rich and poor.
The real story here is that California is a mess and that Gavin Newsom may end up having his utopian hands ties by an economic downturn caused by Sacramento’s draconian tax policies.