Skip to main content

Double Whammy of Bad Economic News for California

Support Provided By
KCETstatecapI.jpg

Things aren't getting any brighter quickly on the state's economic outlook front, as we are now looking at a staggering 11.6 percent unemployment rate, and a credit rating downturn that could mark the state as a junk investment.

On the unemployment front, the L.A. Times delivers the bad news:

California's unemployment rate inched up in June, reaching 11.6%, up 4.5 percentage points from a year earlier. It was one of 38 states reporting higher unemployment rates in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The state lost 66,500 jobs last month, and has shed 766,300 jobs in the last year.The national unemployment rate, at 9.5%, wavered little from May, still a significant increase from the 5.6% unemployment rate of June 2008.

This gives us the sixth-highest unemployment rate of any state in the U.S. This data chart of California unemployment rates goes back to 1976, and in that range it has never been so high.

And that's not all....the state government is also facing a potentially devastating (as if we can handle more economic devastation from Sacramento...) credit rating downturn. Again, the Times gives us the bitter truth:

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer warned today that state leaders' failure to reach a budget deal has put California at risk of a credit downgrade that would cut off access to funds needed for building schools, roads and other public works projects."With every passing day, the state's credit rating moves closer and closer to the junk pile," Lockyer said in a prepared statement. "If our credit rating sinks to junk status, the state will find the door to the infrastructure bond market locked shut."

National economics blogger for the Atlantic, Megan McArdle, predicts bankruptcy for our state.

The photo associated with this post was taken by Flickr user yuan2003. It was used under user Creative Commons license.

Support Provided By
Read More
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
A Black woman with long, black brains wears a black Chicago Bulls windbreaker jacket with red and white stripes as she stands at the top of a short staircase in a housing complex and rests her left hand on the metal railing. She smiles slightly while looking directly at the camera.

Los Angeles County Is Testing AI's Ability To Prevent Homelessness

In order to prevent people from becoming homeless before it happens, Los Angeles County officials are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict who in the county is most likely to lose their housing. They would then step in to help those people with their rent, utility bills, car payments and more so they don't become unhoused.