Job Creation is Still our Central Challenge
How many times in the last two months have you heard that California is creating jobs faster than the national average? Quite a bit, I would guess.
California’s economy is recovering, but it ain’t “Happy Days Are Here Again.”
Since California’s economy hit rock bottom in February of 2010, the state has added a half million jobs, or 3.6% more employed. During that same period, the rest of the nation has added 3.6 million jobs, or 3.2% more workers. Yes, California has outperformed the country – but it’s hardly time to take a victory lap. After all, as the chart below shows, we are starting from a base of a far greater loss of employment, so we should expect our recovery to be more robust than the nation’s. I would suggest: better than we’ve done thus far.
Our policy makers shouldn’t be using our fragile – and regionally disparate – recovery to attack our well-recognized business climate deficiencies. We can do better.
Follow Loren on Twitter: @KayeLoren
