Better policies needed to create more jobs

Gov. Gavin Newsom last month announced the California Jobs First Economic Blueprint, which will “guide the state’s investments in key sectors to drive sustainable economic growth, innovation and access to good-paying jobs over the next decade.”

The administration also promises to spend “$120 million to support ‘ready-to-go’ job-creating projects.”

We take that as a tacit acknowledgement that, despite the governor’s constant cheerleading about California’s economic growth, the state faces a jobs problem.

Like most ideas from Sacramento, this one misses the main point.

Businesses don’t need more government investment as much as a government that reduces regulatory hurdles and creates a competitive tax climate.

In July, the Legislative Analyst’s Office pointed to a “worrisome trend: “large and mounting private-sector job losses that have been offset by continued hiring in public sector (and publicly supported) fields. Since its post-pandemic peak in September 2022, California’s private sector has lost a net 154,000 jobs (1.2 percent) while the public sector has gained 361,000 jobs (7 percent).”

One recent analysis claiming the overwhelmingly proportion of new state jobs came in the public sector gained widespread attention, but was based on an incorrect (and later corrected) reading of the data.

Nevertheless, the state’s kneejerk defenders ignore the warning signs.

Yes, California still is home to many large corporations and its economy continues to grow, but the exodus is no hallucination.

Numbers from October show that California lost a net 268,000 residents last year.

That slowed from the previous year’s loss of 342,000, but that’s hardly something to celebrate.

Although there’s some good news on the business-development front, businesses have been steadily leaving California for years.

Those that stay do so despite the state’s policies, not because of them.

There’s no way to calculate the number of businesses that didn’t start here.

Meanwhile, the state government continues to grow, with public-sector and publicly funded jobs remaining a drain on the economy given that they are funded by tax revenue.

Newsom and Democratic leaders continue to promote the same solutions, but California needs fewer government-funded blueprints and more business-friendly policies.