ARTICLE
In the Fiscal Year 2018-19 budget beginning in July 1, 2018, Governor Jerry Brown, ending the last year of his record 16 years as our Governor, will leave the State Capitol Corner office with a gift to Californians. The Governor and legislative leaders have agreed to pour more money than is legally required into the reserve account approved by voters in 2014 so that its equivalent is about 10 percent of the government’s annual tax revenue, or about $13.8 billion. Lawmakers sent Brown the spending plan last Thursday evening, June 14 meeting the constitutional deadline of June 15. The Legislature also created two new piggy banks - one seeded with $200 million that could be used to soften any social services cuts in a recession and another of about $2 billion that would house money before it’s moved to the rainy-day fund or used for other needs. Most Californians are happy that the state is flush in funds and the state budget is a forgone conclusion. However, the non-dramatic ending of the budget this year calls to question - what really happened? With the state budget passing, on time older historians of California politics ponder - does anyone long for the good old days of the dragged out budget debates? Remember the deal making required to get some Republicans to join majority Democrats to reach the required two-thirds vote? A comment from a current legislative staffer says: “No, I don’t miss those days because no one enjoyed those drawn-out affairs with IOUs issued to state workers and public services delayed.” Try paying your home mortgage or rent or buying groceries with a voucher. Yet, by reducing the decision making of the past from the Big 5 (Governor, Majority and Minority leaders of both legislative houses) to the one-party Big 3 (Governor, Assembly Speaker and Senate Pro-tempore) something important has been lost in missing public hearings and debates over budget priorities. The minority party in Sacramento sees it a bit differently. State Senator John Moorlach reacted to Governor Brown’s announcement that he had reached an agreement on the budget with the Assembly Speaker and the Senator pro tempore and offered a question: “Would somebody explain why I am even here and why am I voting tonight on this ‘behind closed doors’ agreement?” I personally have not read - cover to back - every detail of this year’s budget. It is fair to say probably only a handful of legislators, their staff, the Governor’s Department of Finance, state government agency pencil pushers and lobbyists can provide us with the myopic details. I am sure there are good things in the budget where everyone feels better than the gloomy days of cut backs and layoffs. My point, with a $200 billion state budget seemingly being crafted by three individuals directing their staff leaves an unanswered question. Where’s the details? We won’t have a full report until the Legislature finalizes the spending plan known as the Budget “trailer” bills later this summer. Stay tuned. All this discussion about California flush with money is good news for state funded programs and projects. This news follows last week’s employment numbers for May. The California economy cooled a bit in May as employers added 5,500 net jobs. The unemployment rate held steady at a record low of 4.2%, according to data released Friday by the state’s Employment Development Department. The numbers reflect a slowdown from April, when the state added 25,600 jobs, according to Friday’s downward revision. Experts cautioned not to read too much into one month’s numbers and said the job market appears strong. “The economy,” said Robert Kleinhenz, an economist with Beacon Economics, “is on cruise speed.” The leisure and hospitality industry posted the biggest gain, with 7,900 jobs. Professional and business services added 2,500 and the information sector - which includes tech companies and Hollywood studios - added 2,200. The “other services” category, which includes businesses such as equipment repair shops and nail salons, edged up by 300 jobs. Closer to home, Santa Cruz County unemployment rate is following California’s rate. According to the EDD, the unemployment rate in Santa Cruz County was 4.3 percent in May 2018, down from a revised 5.3 percent in April 2018, and below the year-ago estimate of 5.1 percent. This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 3.7 percent for California and 3.6 percent for the nation during the same period. We usually see a rise in seasonal employment in the hospitality & leisure sector as well as in farm related activity. You can review the data report here: May Labor Market Report - Santa Cruz What does that mean for the local economy as the summer months bring in the largest swing of tourist and agriculture based dollars? According to INDEED, the job search site shows that there are 1701 full time opportunities in the county, and 522 part time jobs with a majority of those openings in Santa Cruz. The listed top hiring companies is led by the University (135), care.com (84) Marriott (57) and Threshold Enterprises (47). The majority of those open positions (according to INDEED) are lower paying jobs between the $25,000 to $35,000 range. That says a lot about the job market vs. the cost of living in our county. Over 1600 of the 1701 posted positions are for entry level jobs. Taking a closer look at another job posting services, SantaCruzJobs.com shows 82 listings in Santa Cruz County. (This is a pay to advertise service so it does not accurately reflect the complete job market.) SantaCruzTechBeat.com whose moniker is “all things tech in Santa Cruz” has 100s of jobs listed - some posted as far back as six months ago, so it difficult to know if the positions are open and the employer is unable to find qualified candidates or the postings are not updated information. Earlier this month, the Tech Meet-Up organization hosted its monthly meeting advertised as 2nd Annual GET HIRED! Over 300 jobs will be hot and ready to be filled: engineering, product/project management, marketing, finance. 10+ local companies are hiring: Amazon, Looker, Joby Aviation, Plantronics, Santa Cruz Bicycles, LifeAid, Inboard, ProductOps, and more. The Santa Cruz tech sector appears to produce much needed high growth and job opportunities. This is all good news for our county, however, along with increased employment opportunities comes the need to address the infrastructure to support this job growth. More to talk about next week.
In the Fiscal Year 2018-19 budget beginning in July 1, 2018, Governor Jerry Brown, ending the last year of his record 16 years as our Governor, will leave the State Capitol Corner office with a gift to Californians. The Governor and legislative leaders have agreed to pour more money than is legally required into the reserve account approved by voters in 2014 so that its equivalent is about 10 percent of the government’s annual tax revenue, or about $13.8 billion. Lawmakers sent Brown the spending plan last Thursday evening, June 14 meeting the constitutional deadline of June 15.
The Legislature also created two new piggy banks - one seeded with $200 million that could be used to soften any social services cuts in a recession and another of about $2 billion that would house money before it’s moved to the rainy-day fund or used for other needs.
Most Californians are happy that the state is flush in funds and the state budget is a forgone conclusion. However, the non-dramatic ending of the budget this year calls to question - what really happened?
With the state budget passing, on time older historians of California politics ponder - does anyone long for the good old days of the dragged out budget debates? Remember the deal making required to get some Republicans to join majority Democrats to reach the required two-thirds vote? A comment from a current legislative staffer says: “No, I don’t miss those days because no one enjoyed those drawn-out affairs with IOUs issued to state workers and public services delayed.” Try paying your home mortgage or rent or buying groceries with a voucher.
Yet, by reducing the decision making of the past from the Big 5 (Governor, Majority and Minority leaders of both legislative houses) to the one-party Big 3 (Governor, Assembly Speaker and Senate Pro-tempore) something important has been lost in missing public hearings and debates over budget priorities.
The minority party in Sacramento sees it a bit differently. State Senator John Moorlach reacted to Governor Brown’s announcement that he had reached an agreement on the budget with the Assembly Speaker and the Senator pro tempore and offered a question: “Would somebody explain why I am even here and why am I voting tonight on this ‘behind closed doors’ agreement?”
I personally have not read - cover to back - every detail of this year’s budget. It is fair to say probably only a handful of legislators, their staff, the Governor’s Department of Finance, state government agency pencil pushers and lobbyists can provide us with the myopic details. I am sure there are good things in the budget where everyone feels better than the gloomy days of cut backs and layoffs. My point, with a $200 billion state budget seemingly being crafted by three individuals directing their staff leaves an unanswered question. Where’s the details? We won’t have a full report until the Legislature finalizes the spending plan known as the Budget “trailer” bills later this summer. Stay tuned.
All this discussion about California flush with money is good news for state funded programs and projects. This news follows last week’s employment numbers for May. The California economy cooled a bit in May as employers added 5,500 net jobs. The unemployment rate held steady at a record low of 4.2%, according to data released Friday by the state’s Employment Development Department. The numbers reflect a slowdown from April, when the state added 25,600 jobs, according to Friday’s downward revision. Experts cautioned not to read too much into one month’s numbers and said the job market appears strong. “The economy,” said Robert Kleinhenz, an economist with Beacon Economics, “is on cruise speed.”
The leisure and hospitality industry posted the biggest gain, with 7,900 jobs. Professional and business services added 2,500 and the information sector - which includes tech companies and Hollywood studios - added 2,200. The “other services” category, which includes businesses such as equipment repair shops and nail salons, edged up by 300 jobs.
Closer to home, Santa Cruz County unemployment rate is following California’s rate. According to the EDD, the unemployment rate in Santa Cruz County was 4.3 percent in May 2018, down from a revised 5.3 percent in April 2018, and below the year-ago estimate of 5.1 percent. This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 3.7 percent for California and 3.6 percent for the nation during the same period. We usually see a rise in seasonal employment in the hospitality & leisure sector as well as in farm related activity.
You can review the data report here: May Labor Market Report - Santa Cruz
What does that mean for the local economy as the summer months bring in the largest swing of tourist and agriculture based dollars? According to INDEED, the job search site shows that there are 1701 full time opportunities in the county, and 522 part time jobs with a majority of those openings in Santa Cruz. The listed top hiring companies is led by the University (135), care.com (84) Marriott (57) and Threshold Enterprises (47).
The majority of those open positions (according to INDEED) are lower paying jobs between the $25,000 to $35,000 range. That says a lot about the job market vs. the cost of living in our county. Over 1600 of the 1701 posted positions are for entry level jobs.
Taking a closer look at another job posting services, SantaCruzJobs.com shows 82 listings in Santa Cruz County. (This is a pay to advertise service so it does not accurately reflect the complete job market.) SantaCruzTechBeat.com whose moniker is “all things tech in Santa Cruz” has 100s of jobs listed - some posted as far back as six months ago, so it difficult to know if the positions are open and the employer is unable to find qualified candidates or the postings are not updated information. Earlier this month, the Tech Meet-Up organization hosted its monthly meeting advertised as 2nd Annual GET HIRED! Over 300 jobs will be hot and ready to be filled: engineering, product/project management, marketing, finance. 10+ local companies are hiring: Amazon, Looker, Joby Aviation, Plantronics, Santa Cruz Bicycles, LifeAid, Inboard, ProductOps, and more.
The Santa Cruz tech sector appears to produce much needed high growth and job opportunities. This is all good news for our county, however, along with increased employment opportunities comes the need to address the infrastructure to support this job growth. More to talk about next week.