June 14, 2003
California's job market continues to deteriorate.
The
LA Times reports that unemployment in California continues to increase. However, southern California is doing better while northern California, particularly Silicon Valley, remains deep in post-boom slump.
California's labor market deteriorated sharply in May as the state's employers shed 21,500 jobs -- even as the rest of the nation combined gained jobs, according to government data released Friday.
The cutbacks were felt across a wide spectrum of the economy, which is being weighed down by a massive budget gap and ballooning business costs. The job losses are the largest since December and mark the fourth consecutive month of payroll declines in California.
The thing I find interesting about this article is that it doesn't even mention the movie or music industries, both of which are enormous in LA. There's this deep bias towards the arts, and this assumption that there is no real money made in them, or large numbers of jobs produced. So much so that they don't even bother looking at the figures. I can see that in other places maybe, but it amazes me that the LA Times still doesn't consider the movie industry to be "real work" or a "real business."
The unemployment figures don't reflect self-employed people, particularly artists, of whom there are a lot more than people seem to realize. Actors, writers, musicians, painters and so many others are put down as unemployed, no matter how much they're making, because they don't have weekly paychecks. I live in southern California and it seems to me that film makers and musicians and such are doing pretty well. A heck of a lot better than the computer types.
They also report that the incredible increase in workers' compensation payments recently, up to 100%, are very definitely driving businesses out of the state.
Richard Pocrass, chief executive of Chocolates a la Carte Inc., a Valencia maker of specialty chocolates, said his firm laid off nine of his 150 workers after his workers' compensation premiums doubled to $500,000. To expand his family's business, which will post $12 million in sales this year, Pocrass said he will automate more of the production process and outsource to Asia. What he won't do, Pocrass said, is hire more people.
"This is a complete change of direction for us," Pocrass said. "We have to find a way to grow without adding employees. California makes it too expensive."
As someone who's been living in California for 50 years now, I can't decide if that's good or bad. The population here has skyrocketed during the last few years, far beyond the ability of the infrastructure to support it, so maybe it's good if there's a bit of a reduction.
And the Bush administration's contempt for California certainly isn't helping. It's no coincidence that the states on the west coast have the highest unemployment figures. Washington is 3,000 miles away and they don't care. Those who think the Republicans have the upper hand in the 2004 election should know that the nation's largest state is very solidly Democratic and getting more so every day. Whoever the Democratic candidate turns out to be, they've already won here.
