Something, someone missing from CA’s reopening
California officially reopened this week to much media and gubernatorial fanfare.
But something major was missing: the many job creators and residents who were forced to flee the state over the past 15 months that were marked by lockdowns, school closures, and onerous restrictions that frequently left businesses reeling and shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to comply.
Among them were innovators like Elon Musk, who relocated to Texas; David Blumberg, founder of Blumberg Capital, who moved to Florida; conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who took his family to Florida and his media business, The Daily Wire, to Nashville; Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which is now in Texas; and software company Palantir, which now calls Colorado home.
While many state economies are back, or close, to normal, California’s economy still lags far behind. Its unemployment rate of 8.3% is better than only that of Hawaii, and a far cry from the states with the lowest unemployment rate of 2.8%.
Recently, The Center Square reported just how much the state is losing from the out migration, something documented in detail in CPC’s California Book of Exoduses. Between 2017 and 2018, California lost 165,355 net tax filers and dependents, more than any other state. Combined, the income of those former residents totals $8.8 billion that will now be earned elsewhere.
The lessening of unnecessary, burdensome regulations is certainly worth celebrating. But let’s not lose sight of the need for a real reopening of California’s economy that would make it possible for our past residents to one day return.
Quote of the week
“Is Austin Beutner celebrating that LAUSD negotiated the least amount of live online instructional time of any major school district? LAUSD definitely did set a ‘new standard.’ but I hope they never become a model for the nation.” – Christie Pesicka, LAUSD mom and member of California Students United
You’re invited!
Join us from 6-7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23 for a virtual celebration of workplace freedom in California. In honor of the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Janus v. AFSCME decision, we’ll be talking with people like Assemblyman Kevin Kiley and Mark Janus about the ongoing efforts that have led over 300,000 California government workers to leave their unions. Please register here, and mark your calendars. Email Mallory Staley at mallory@calpolicycenter.org with any questions.
More from CPC
- California’s lockdown exodus
- LAUSD schools to open amid much controversy
- Listen: Their own private Idaho
- Dams and desalination
- Listen: Analyzing deeply California’s superficiality
CPC and allies in the news
- Ten organizations effectively fighting the Left’s radical agenda, regardless of who is in office
- The public-union stranglehold on California politics is weakening
- Bad teachers are a bigger threat to students than school police
- In farewell, Beutner calls L.A. schools a ‘model for the nation.’ Others worry about work ahead
- Ride share prices for Uber, Lyft continue to spike nationwide amid driver shortage, high demand
Classroom headlines
- Student activists help divert millions in funding away from law enforcement in schools
- UTLA members ratify agreement on health/safety protocols for LAUSD’s new school year
- California’s charter school war flares up again
- The rise of Black homeschooling
- Most teachers are vaccinated, union says
- American moms are taking a stand against Critical Race Theory
- Fresno schools will keep police on campus after debate – but some things are changing
Union news
- No, AFT head Randi Weingarten isn’t a school reopening champion
- Pro-union teachers say Clovis school leaders undermine unionizing efforts in complaint
- 3 more California unions strike deals to end state worker pay cuts, restore wages
- Is union labor requirement in the way of easing California’s affordable housing crisis?
- Labor-backed bill would devastate California restaurant industry
- The PRO Act empowers union bosses, not workers
- LA Teachers union rallying teachers to condemn Israel
Other things we’re reading
- California state scientists to receive nearly 8% raise in deal ending pay cuts
- San Diego County reaches key benchmark: herd immunity
- California’s bullet train doesn’t deserve a cent of federal funding
- California must foster, not drive away, the innovation economy
- California Legislature passes a self-serving sham budget
- Reopened – but recovered? What Fresno jobs look like in industries hit hardest by COVID
- Cheapest CalPERS health insurance plan will cost 23% more next year, projections show
- Taxes by a different name are strangling California’s middle class
- Fewer than 40 recall Newsom signatures rescinded statewide
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