From Florida to Texas, governors and presidential wannabes are clamoring for a piece of California’s action. Given how hot California’s economy has been in the past year, you can’t blame them, but it would help their cases if the numbers backed them up.
Earlier this month, Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced he is planning an April trip to California as part of his effort to lure businesses from other states. Scott is urging shipping companies to shift their business to Florida after labor disputes in California ports.
And, of course, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is no stranger in attempting to pick California’s low-hanging fruit to boost his state’s economic fortunes. He ran ads in the Golden State in 2013, something California Gov. Jerry Brown famously brushed off as “barely a fart.” Apparently, the lesson sank in. Instead of going after businesses, Perry is going after conservative donors from California, among other states.
Strangely, though, one of the presidential candidate’s top advisers, Jeff Miller, just last week told the Wall Street Journal “Texas leaders in business and philanthropy continue to support Gov. Perry because he remains dedicated to conservative principles that helped make Texas our country’s economic engine.”
First off, no one state is this country’s sole economic engine. The U.S. economy is running strong this year from coast to coast. But if any single state could carry that label, it certainly wouldn’t be Texas. California has, in fact, the largest economy in the U.S., and as widely reported here and elsewhere, boasts the eighth-largest economy in the world, if ranked as a sovereign nation.
But let’s also take a closer look at Scott’s attempt to lure West Coast shipping companies. First off, the labor disputes, while undeniably costly, are now settled as shippers are working feverishly to work through the backlog in the nation’s busiest port complex. In January, according to the Los Angeles Times, cargo volumes at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach climbed almost 4 percent from 2013 to 15.2 million container units, making 2014 the third-busiest year on record, behind only 2006 and 2007.
That, more than anything, is why Florida’s Scott, who reportedly has banned the term “climate change” among government employees, is salivating over California’s shipping industry.
Meanwhile, the February jobs report released last week by the California Employment Development Department (EDD), showed continued improvement. California’s unemployment rate decreased to 6.7 percent in February, and nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 29,400 during the month for a total gain of 1.8 million jobs since the recovery began in February 2010, according to data released March 20 by the EDD in two separate reports.
“It’s really an outstanding set of job gains,” Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., told the Los Angeles Times. “These are very good numbers — a continuation of a strong growth trend.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised its 2014 employment numbers earlier this month and sharply raised net job creation in California to 498,000, from 320,000 a year earlier. The same revision pushed Texas downward from 458,000 to 393,000.
The U.S. unemployment rate decreased in February to 5.5 percent. In January, the state’s unemployment rate was 7.0 percent, and in February 2014, the unemployment rate was 8.0 percent. The unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,500 California households. Nonfarm jobs in California totaled nearly 16 million in February, an increase of 29,400 jobs over the month, according to a survey of businesses that is larger and less variable statistically. The survey of 58,000 California businesses measures jobs in the economy.
“These data explain why so many governors are coming to California in search of jobs,” Steve Levy, who heads the Palo Alto-based Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy, told The Sacramento Bee. “It is because California has the most jobs and strong job gains with more forecast to be added in 2015 and 2016.”
So, really, the attempts by Scott and Perry are no different than other visitors to California: They’re all looking for business. And, as proven time and again, they’ve come to the right place.
Cross-posted at CalPossible.