U.S. Labor Department said the economy added 120,000 jobs in March, down from 200,000 the previous month.
(Photo credit: Tomas Ovalle, John Guenther)
The U.S. unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, at 8.2 percent, which translates to over 12 million Americans being “officially” out of work. There are others who have stopped looking who might not be included in the statistics.
“We see a lack of sustainability in terms of strong job growth,” said Tony Crescenzi, a strategist at Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach, CA, said in a Friday radio interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene and Ken Prewitt. “This is still not strong enough to create escape velocity, which is to say an economy strong enough to make it on its own without additional monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve.”
Here in California, unemployment has been even worse, hovering around 11 percent and no immediate relief on the horizon.
But Californians, as is their habit, are fighting back to improve the state’s economy. The first ever California Economic Summit is set for May 11 in Santa Clara. There have been fourteen Regional Forums held around the state to identify ways to boost job creation and improve the state’s ability to compete in the every expanding global marketplace.
The Summit will explore four major areas that are critical to improving the state’s economy: preparing the work force, improving the state’s infrastructure, encouraging innovation and addressing regulatory reform.
California doesn’t have one economy; it is a series of regional economies. What makes the economy thrive in the San Joaquin Valley is much different than what makes the Inland Empire go which is different again from what drives the San Francisco Bay Area economy. The Summit’s design recognizes that.
This recent story about economic development in Tulare County is an example of how local Californians address their regional economic priorities.
You’ll be learning more about some of the specific policy initiatives that will be addressed at the Summit in the coming weeks.
We invite your feedback.
