9 of 12 US Metros with Highest Unemployment are in California (San Diego: unemployment rate, minimum wage)

[TheseGoTo11]

Metropolitan Area Unemployment Rates | Department of Numbers

...and 11 of the top 16

Only San Diego, the Bay Area, and SLO are meaningfully below the nat'l average, LA is right at it.

This is troubling in light of declining venture capital, and San Diego's dependence on the military, though the latter could pick up over the next few years.

Moreover, for all the do gooder concern in the Bay Area about poverty, why are we so nonchalant about our neighbors less than 100 miles away who are struggling terribly?

[V8 Vega]

$15 a hour minimum wage for unskilled labor are you surprised?

[TheseGoTo11]

Originally Posted by V8 Vega

$15 a hour minimum wage for unskilled labor are you surprised?

When Jerry Brown signed the law, you knew it was a death wish for the Central Valley. He could have at least limited to Bay Area counties and LA.

[evilamai]

Originally Posted by TheseGoTo11

Metropolitan Area Unemployment Rates | Department of Numbers

...and 11 of the top 16

Only San Diego, the Bay Area, and SLO are meaningfully below the nat'l average, LA is right at it.

This is troubling in light of declining venture capital, and San Diego's dependence on the military, though the latter could pick up over the next few years.

Moreover, for all the do gooder concern in the Bay Area about poverty, why are we so nonchalant about our neighbors less than 100 miles away who are struggling terribly?

So it's mostly Californians looking for jobs? Are we surprised?

Compared to the other states with "low unemployment rate" simply because they don't want to work and aren't looking for work because they got welfare.

The unemployment rate only counts those "looking" for work. Not those who are unemployed and don't want to work.

[TheseGoTo11]

Originally Posted by evilamai

The unemployment rate only counts those "looking" for work. Not those who are unemployed and don't want to work.

Great point, because the labor force participation rate in California is below the national average. So the unemployment rate would be even higher if California had the same share of adults in the workforce as the rest of the country.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by evilamai

So it's mostly Californians looking for jobs? Are we surprised?

Compared to the other states with "low unemployment rate" simply because they don't want to work and aren't looking for work because they got welfare.

The unemployment rate only counts those "looking" for work. Not those who are unemployed and don't want to work.

People everywhere are looking for jobs and CA is very high on welfare as well. Why is the State with the 6th highest GDP in the world having such problems?

Oh, the GDP is more a pride issue than a beneficial one or the unemployment would be far lower in CA and it ... isn't so that would be a meaningless answer to such questions..

[oldtrader]

Originally Posted by expatCA

People everywhere are looking for jobs and CA is very high on welfare as well. Why is the State with the 6th highest GDP in the world having such problems?

Fact: California only has the high GDP they do, due to the huge population in the state. Check out the GDP on per capita basis, and adjust for cost of living, California is down to the bottom half of the nation.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeaut...ving_adjusted_

Reginal price parities by state.

https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/reg...6_chart_01.png

One reason there is as much unemployment and poor people in California is the businesses fleeing California due to cost of doing business there.

3 Simple Charts That Help Explain Why 9,000 Businesses Have Left California In Just 7 Years | Zero Hedge

[RosieSD]

Hmmm, according the BLS the national unemployment rate in February was 4.8. The statewide rate in California was 5.2. That's a .4% difference (POINT four, not 4%).

Doesn't seem like a crisis to me.

Now, are there places in California that have high unemployment rates? Certainly. But, there are LOCAL reasons that they do.

Let's take El Centro as an example. The main industry there is, and always has been, agriculture. But, a few years ago, the big agricultural farms in El Centro sold their water rights to San Diego County. It was a better deal for the farm owners - they could make more money selling water and letting their fields sit fallow.

But, the downside is, they didn't need to hire as many farmworkers because they let their fields go fallow

So, that's the main reason for high unemployment out there and it has nothing to do with employers leaving California for another state or the minimum wage increase. In fact, as far as I know, aside from agriculture and agricultural related industries, there have never been a lot of major manufacturers or corporations headquartered in El Centro. So, blaming El Centro's high unemployment rate on "Companies fleeing California" is not true. There never were many non-agricultural companies there to begin with.

Now, if you wanted to have a productive discussion about what could be done to reduce unemployment in El Centro, we could talk about whether the city, county of Imperial, or state of California could offer incentives to get major employers to move their headquarters to El Centro.

My point is that each of the cities on that list - and not just the ones in California - have LOCAL reasons for their higher unemployment rates. So, if you want to have a discussion about unemployment in those cities, you need to go through the list city by city and discuss what factors have caused it and - more importantly - what could be done on a local level to reduce it.

Blaming unemployment in particular cities all on the state of California is just plain silly. If you look at that list and others, almost every state has at least some cities that have higher and lower unemployment rates than the statewide average.

If you want to understand why certain individual cities in a state have higher unemployment rates, you need to look at the local issues first.

So, let's do that. What local factors do you think cause Stockton to have a higher rate of unemployment? Please try to avoid saying "California's commie government."

More importantly, if you're going to talk about individual cities, then let's also talk about solutions. So, once we figure out why Stockton has high unemployment, let's put on our thinking caps and come up with some ideas for how (and who) should fix that problem.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

Doesn't seem like a crisis to me.

That's because you don't go around with your hair on fire and don't try to set others' hair on fire. Quite the hobby for some folks here, you know.

[aewan68]

Originally Posted by oldtrader

Fact: California only has the high GDP they do, due to the huge population in the state. Check out the GDP on per capita basis, and adjust for cost of living, California is down to the bottom half of the nation.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeaut...ving_adjusted_

Reginal price parities by state.

https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/reg...6_chart_01.png

One reason there is as much unemployment and poor people in California is the businesses fleeing California due to cost of doing business there.

3 Simple Charts That Help Explain Why 9,000 Businesses Have Left California In Just 7 Years | Zero Hedge

^^^^True

None of the top 5 states for population in the US (I live/lived in 3 of them up to this point) is below 4.0%

https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm

Want to see poverty, go to Alabama or West Virginia, been to both states and saw a lot of poverty.