Report: California's labor performance ranks 48th
Sacramento Business Journal
By: Kelly Johnson
8.19.2009
Sacramento Business Journal, August 19, 2009*
California’s labor performance over the past five years is among the worst in the country, according to research by a San Francisco think tank.
The Pacific Research Institute said California ranked better than only Michigan and Mississippi in the think tank’s new study called “California Prosperity: Assessing the State of the Golden State.”
In the past five years, California has seen its population decrease by one million, meaning that about 550 people have left the state each day, the report found.
Pacific Research Institute, which released its report Wednesday, found that the state ranked:
- A mediocre 24th among all states in its ability to expand the economy and incomes
- In the bottom 20 for private-sector employment growth
- In the bottom 20 for the length of unemployment
- In the bottom 20 for the average unemployment rate
“California’s current economic woes are often blamed on the national recession,” Jason Clemens, PRI director of research and the study’s co-author with Robert Murphy, senior policy fellow, said in a news release. “But the state’s suffering precedes the current cyclical downturn. California’s mired economic structure has been hampering growth for years.”
Also, he said, “California’s reputation for being home to the most innovative entrepreneurs in the world is fast becoming a myth.”
The free-market, non-partisan organization found that California has experienced an average net increase of small and medium-sized businesses of just 1.2 percent, putting California 16th among the states — not even in the top 30 percent.
“Perhaps the best measure of a state’s economic health is its migration rate, whereby residents indicate with their feet where they think prospects are brightest,” the news release said.
California’s migration rate is the seventh-worst over the last five years, with about 550 people leaving the state each day.
“Flight is an especially enticing option since California’s neighboring states offer healthier economic prospects,” the news release said. “Arizona and Utah ranked third and fourth in overall economic performance and Oregon, Washington and Colorado ranked in the top 20.”
Many Californians, Clemens said, “don’t understand that the policy under-girding the state’s failing economy still presides. We believe that the current crisis is a direct result of a tax-and-spend, regulatory economy that punishes taxpayers. Changes must be made to our keystone economic policies in order to bring about recovery and prosperity.”
*Note: This article also appeared in the following publications: Nashville Business Journal (TN), August 19, 2009
Washington Business Journal (Arlington, VA), August 19, 2009
Houston Business Journal (Houston, TX), August 19, 2009
Dallas Business Journal (Dallas, TX), August 19, 2009
Atlanta Business Chronicle (Atlanta, GA), August 19, 2009
Los Angeles Business Journal (Los Angeles, CA), August 19, 2009
Business Courier (Cincinnati, OH), August 19, 2009
Philadelphia Business Journal (Philadelphia, PA), August 19, 2009
Pacific Business News (Honolulu, HI), August 19, 2009
Triangle Business Journal (Raleigh, NC), August 19, 2009
Boston Business Journal (Boston, MA), August 19, 2009
St. Louis Business Journal (St. Louis, MO), August 19, 2009
The Denver Business Journal (Denver, CO), August 19, 2009
South Florida Business Journal (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), August 19, 2009
The Business Review (Albany, NY), August 19, 2009
Wichita Business Journal (Wichita, KS), August 19, 2009
DocuTicker, August 19, 2009
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