UCLA Anderson Forecast: California Expected To Do Better Than U.S. Economy
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — California's economy is projected to grow at a faster pace than the rest of the United States over the next two years, according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast released Wednesday.
In his report on the California economy, Anderson Senior Economist Jerry Nickelsburg wrote that technology innovations isn't the only thing helping the state recover, but it is a major part of it.
"The very rapid growth in Silicon Valley and San Francisco attest to this fact," he wrote. "The results presented here suggest that in the near term, the critical mass developed with California's research institutions will continue to provide the state with a disproportionate amount of innovation and therefore a faster growth in GDP than the average for the U.S.
"The fly in the ointment stems from the fact that innovation in productivity improvements is not like assembling aircraft. It comes in fits and starts and is inherently unpredictable," according to Nickelsburg's report. "Nevertheless, we expect California's GDP growth rate to exceed that of the U.S. through our forecast period."
Nickelsburg predicts a steady decrease in the state's unemployment rate over the next two years, reaching about 5 percent. Employment growth will be 1.9 percent this year, then 1.6 percent and 1 percent during the next two years, according to his report.
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