We
just celebrated Labor Day, which means you’ve gotten a dose of boring
"state of the labor market" articles and opinions. Alas, this is
another one.
The
situation on the job front is not good. You probably know that unemployment
nationwide was 9.6 percent in August. It was much worse in California
at 12.3 percent and in Los
Angeles County
at 12.4 percent in July. A year earlier, L.A.’s
unemployment was 11.9 percent. In other words, it was bad last year and worse
this year.
But
you may not know that the unemployment rate only tells some of the story.
Another part is how many jobs are being created. Or lost.
In
the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the L.A.-area area
lost 14,700 jobs. California
lost 83,666. In percentage terms, those represented losses of 0.3 percent and
0.5 percent, respectively.
Those
aren’t huge losses percentagewise, but consider this: The big problem in
many states is that jobs are not being created fast enough to absorb the
increase in workers. In California,
the problem is worse. We’re actively destroying payroll jobs.
And
if you look out over the last two years, it’s downright ugly. (You might
want to cover your eyes for this part.) Since midyear 2008, California lost 925,000 jobs. That’s
5.5 percent of all payroll jobs. Gone.
Now,
to be sure, a good part of this carnage has been caused by the economy;
it’s not great anywhere in the world. But a large part is also due to
government policies. You can have policies that help give birth to
private-sector jobs, or you can have ones that kill them. Los
Angeles and California,
regrettably, are solidly in the latter category.
There
are states and cities that have taken the other tack. Look at Texas. Like California, it is a big state with a
significant immigrant population. But unlike California, it decided some years ago to be
truly business friendly. The result? In the last year, that state has gained
close to 128,000 jobs.
Its
unemployment rate in July was 8.2 percent. That’s not great, but it is
better than the national average and one-third less than California’s.
The
point is you can’t do anything to repeal the economic cycle but you can
do something to make policies that encourage job creators. Unfortunately, California’s
policymakers seem intent on killing jobs and punishing businesses.
A
couple of weeks ago, Jack Stewart, the president of the California
Manufacturers & Technology Association, wrote an open letter to the state
Legislature that pointed out in the last year 31 states had a net increase in
jobs while 19 states lost jobs. Texas
was the biggest winner. California
was the biggest loser.
"Utah, with a population 1/14 the size of California, created 13,800 new jobs by targeting California’s high
technology employers," Stewart wrote.
"We’ve
asked you repeatedly throughout the year to reduce the regulatory and tax
burden on California
employers. I guess you weren’t listening. …
"We’ve
asked you to balance California’s
budget without job killing business tax increases, but you propose billions in
new taxes targeted at employers. You don’t seem to get the concept.
"You’ve
granted open season for Texas, Utah and other states to
poach our most valuable resources, our jobs and our industries."
Hope
you enjoyed a happy Labor Day.