California

[gsganzer]

Help wanted signs are no sign of employment. I have been told that in our small town 28% of working age adults are on some type of public assistance. Yet all the businesses have help wanted signs in the windows. The landscapers working in our back yard as I type are very hard working Mexicans. Because the business they work for cannot get Americans to work. The lady in charge said they had one guy last three days earlier in the year. He lasted longer than the other six or seven they hired.

Why work when you can get money for sitting on your butt?

RSKY

The farm I worked at when I was a kid now employs all Vietnamese. The farm owner said he can't find any kids that want to do farm work anymore. And the ones he does find, aren't worth the hassle.

 

[aircommuter]

The unemployment numbers do not mean too much, when people run out of unemployment the number drops. The jobs that are created are working in the government for the welfare department, or Cal-Trans, who has 3500 employees that are not needed (per recent audit) they do not get rid of them because Jerry (recycled governor) gets his campaign funds from their union. These extra employees cost the taxpayers $550 million per year and they will continue to cost more as their underfunded retirement will come from the general fund. There are also new jobs working for union construction companies doing government work, funded once again by the taxpayers. Jerry is trying to build his train-set so he can have his name along side the tracks like his daddy has on the canals.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Forbes did an article on what kind of jobs are being created in California.

Forbes Welcome

 

[California]

Forbes did an article on what kind of jobs are being created in California.

Forbes Welcome

Great article. Note the second paragraph I've quoted here. Ag, military, feds employment all are down. Offsetting this is growth in sectors that are mostly newly invented since the Internet era - Amazon, warehouse clubs, on-call temps, on the low-wage end, with websiete design, internet publishing etc in the over $100k category. Looks to me the occupations where illegals can work are getting squeezed, they aren't a component of job growth.

Some excerpts:

"no state added more nonfarm payroll jobs from March 2013 to March 2014 than California, a total of 325,000 over the last year.

When we factor in agriculture, military, and miscellaneous federal government jobs California had 293,000 fewer jobs in 2013 than at its low in 2007, a 2% decline. Yet according to EMSI痴 latest data release, it had the most total job gains of any state from 2010 to 2013 (904,000) and the most new jobs from 2012 to 2013 (341,000). Both marks rank sixth per capita among all states.

...

"The one industry in California that jumps off the page for its brisk growth is warehouse clubs and supercenters. Walmart, Costco, and other retail centers covered in this industry have nearly doubled their employment from 2010 to 2013 (from just under 50,000 jobs to 97,500). Even from 2012 to 2013, the industry grew 21%.

Average earnings in warehouse clubs and supercenters are $35,961, making it one of several low-paying industries (along with temporary help services, full-service restaurants, and fast food eateries) that has fueled California痴 recovery.

But sectors on the bottom of the earnings spectrum aren稚 the only ones that have grown. Computer systems design services, wired telecommunications carriers, management of companies and enterprises, and internet publishing and broadcasting and web search portals have all taken off. Earnings per job in each of these industries are north of $100,000 per year (in the case of internet publishing, they?*e $293,431 annually).

Other strong, high-paying performers include electronic shopping (36% growth from 2010 to 2013) and software publishers (18% growth).

 

[300UGUY]

Every time there is a recession, California makes the news. I guess having the largest economy in the country, everybody wants to see how the big dog is doing.

 

[downsizingnow48]

It seems pretty clear CA is now creating lots of good jobs. After years of decline. Still looking for the reasons why the change.

 

[300UGUY]

It's all good, Cramby.

My Aunt told me a story about a developer in Toronto who built an 'Estate' of McMansions and then couldn't get a water consession. He kept staring & pointing at Lake Ontario and all the fresh water and couldn't understand why he couldn't have access to it. Yes, there's a huge amount of volume but a limited amount of flow between all of them. Take too much from one of the Lakes and it will effect all of the others.

I guess I don't understand the idea. Ontario is full of water. In much of this part of the world, having a basement is difficult, because the water table is so high. We have artesian wells around here, people pound a pipe in the ground, and water pours out, without pumping. You could build a lot of McMansions around here, and running it of water wouldn't be a issue. Lakefront property, on the other hand is very expensive. Maybe Toronto didn't want to give him water and sewer access. Hard to believe he would build without securing that.

 

[ultrarunner]

Right now some Bay Area cities have housing projects in the works that are fully approved... low income housing, senior housing and even a school...

All are on hold because the of water allotments.

Things are much different in Northern California than Southern... not a green lawn anywhere around me... all are now just dirt for the most part.

 

[flusher]

Right now some Bay Area cities have housing projects in the works that are fully approved... low income housing, senior housing and even a school...

All are on hold because the of water allotments.

Things are much different in Northern California than Southern... not a green lawn anywhere around me... all are now just dirt for the most part.

Yep. Here in Sacramento brown is the new green.
Homeowners are slowly replacing water-guzzling grass lawns with xeriscape designs. Most of them look a lot better than lawns, IMHO.

 

[California]

What gripes me is Wall Street and overseas investors are planting large tracts of water-loving walnuts and almonds in the Central Valley as an investment strategy to hold on to senior water rights that adhere to the land they bought.

The crop and the present water it needs is irrelevant, this is long term strategy to control a scarce resource. I think Nestle was the first to recognize and act on the strategy of buying up water rights.

An early example near Sacramento was a local investor bought Mace Ranch near Davis (and UC-Davis) not to farm, but to sell its grandfathered water allotment to the Davis water district. City of Davis could have bought that adjacent land, or a portion of its water rights, but missed that opportunity. Now they're paying for their mistake, while the investor makes a good return on his money.