Job Market Contracting in California

California’s job market is contracting thanks to policies implemented by Governor Gavin Newsom. California was once a hub for technology but sky-high corporate and personal taxes have caused businesses to flee. Rampant crime has forced brick and mortar locations to shutter. Rising minimum wage costs have forced companies to automate low-skill positions. And the brunt of the burden comes down to taxation.

The situation in California is so dire that job openings have fallen by 42% in two years. Second to Kentucky (43%), California has experienced the largest decline in job openings. Now, some are blaming the Federal Reserve for adjusting artificially low interest rates. Inflation is a reason for the lack of openings, but the Federal Reserve is not to blame, as I have pointed out on a number of occasions.

The unemployment rate in California as of April 2024 was above the national average at 4.8%, a slight decline from March’s reading of 5.3%. This means that nearly one million people are unemployed and the state’s economy has only added about 50,000 new jobs from September 2022 to September 2023, but estimates believed the state’s job market would grow by 300,000.

The state deficit reached nearly $73 billion as of March 2024, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, but Newsom is reporting a deficit of “only” $40 billion. The state has been hunting their own residents for taxes to fix this crisis. They have even imposed an exit tax so that businesses and individuals are forced to hand over their earnings to California even if they flee the state, as so many have been doing since the pandemic began.

The number of social programs have continued to grow, despite the state having the largest deficit in the nation. They have handed over free home loans to migrants, offered free vodka and beer to homeless addicts, and even found a way to profit off of the state’s rising homeless population through useless agencies that exacerbate the problem they aim to solve.

California is an example of woke socialistic policies going bust. Millions of residents have fled the oppressive state in recent years. Major businesses and sources of tax revenue have left such as Oracle, Tesla, Apple, Charles Schwab, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Planatir, etc. In fact, over 352 companies fled California between 2018 and 2021 alone, including 11 Fortune 1000 companies. This could happen on a national scale if oppressive tax policies like the capital gains tax gain traction.