Senator George Runner
Serving the 17th District which incorporates portions of the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties.

Higher paying sectors declining in California.

The bad news continues to pour in as California faces the worst recession since the 1930’s.

First, California lost over 100,000 manufacturing jobs over the past year and nearly 1,500 manufacturing jobs in November. In fact, over 536,000 jobs have been lost in the sector since the decline started in Dec. 2000 -- nearly a 28 percent decline.

While most western state’s manufacturing sectors have also lost jobs, California’s manufacturing situation is far worse. As a matter of fact, California’s costs to do business is 24 percent higher than the national average and contributes to its manufacturing segments lagging behind key western states which compete for manufacturing jobs – jobs that provide (or did provide) hard working California families with upwardly mobile, high paying job opportunities.

The second major problem is that since January of 2001 the private sector has experienced a 2% decline in jobs. Given the recession we are living through, that would provide a great deal of explanation. Unfortunately, during the same time period, government jobs have grown 7%. This is the wrong way street California has been driving on throughout this decade and long before the recession amplified the problem. The only economic sectors California policies are designed to grow are those in government, and we will pay the price for that emphasis in the future – if not now.

California cannot hire itself out of this recession. The state needs to encourage private sector employment, which generates wealth. Hiring more state bureaucrats merely shifts money from the private sector to the government, where waste and inefficiency abounds.