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“reality” points out what we all know — we’re slowly going up from very far down. “[T]he state has moved off the initial bounce from the depths of the downturn,” the CCJE continues. “The pace in recent months has been positive, but that comes from looking at the numbers in isolation, not what they mean to the overall health of the California economy and its workers. Just continuing at the rates experienced over the past 3 months would not return nonfarm jobs to pre-COVID trend levels until mid-2023. The slower rate being experienced for employment would take an additional year.”
The governor’s press release fails to note the most important metric of all, overall unemployment. There, California still has the 2nd highest unemployment rate in the nation. And in even more troubling news, data on initial jobless claims just released shows that, during the week of September 18, claims in California spiked 46.9% and accounted for half the 15.2% rise seen in the national total.
The governor’s office acknowledges while “more work” needs to be done to regain the jobs lost to the pandemic, the figures reveal “promising progress for California’s economic recovery.”
Newsom’s claim of “promising progress” is like the Baltimore Orioles laying claim to “promising progress” because they’ve only lost 104 games so far this season.
In addition to its useful and understandable reports on unemployment in California, CCJE also issues other reports focused on energy costs and housing issues, especially where California stands relative to other states. The data are not encouraging. CCJE’s employment report has a special section called “Califormer,” which consists of a list of the latest companies to move out of California entirely or move significant parts of their operations to other states. Perhaps it is this part of the report that explains all the other dismal data. While Newsom fiddles with statistics, his policies are burning California jobs.
Jon Coupal is President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. The opinions expressed in this article are those of its author and not necessarily those of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles. This article is being reprinted with permission from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association and the author.
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22 NOVEMBER 2021 - APARTMENT MANAGEMENT MAGAZINE AMM3