UCLA Economists Predict 'Painfully Plodding' Recovery For California
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - California incomes have been rising and the state continues to create new jobs, but a group of leading economists still does not expect the recovery to pick up steam any time soon.
"The fact that we're recovering does not mean we've recovered," said Jerry Nickelsburg, senior economist with the UCLA Anderson Forecast.
The group's third quarter economic report, released Thursday, projects a five percent increase in new home's being built as the state issues more construction permits and housing prices continue to rise.
UCLA Economists Predict 'Painfully Plodding' Recovery For California
A big influx in defense spending and military contracts at California companies is not likely to lead to a sharp drop in unemployment, according to the Anderson report, despite the economic expansion of the past six years.
Rather, the recovery will continue to be "painfully plodding," Nickelsburg said, "particularly because of the large number of long-term unemployed."
These workers long hiatus from the workplace leaves them with increasingly outdated skills, he said, that will only make it harder for them to find work as time passes.
Indeed the record number of jobs in California is not as positive as it might seem, because of population growth, Nickelsburg said.
"There are all the people who have been added to the labor force who are still not employed," he said.
"We are at all-time highs in employment and income, but we are not fully recovered."
