Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

2 days ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

2 days ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

2 days ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

2 days ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

2 days ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

3 days ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

3 days ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

3 days ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

3 days ago
'Made in California' Label Belongs on the Endangered List
Joe-Mathews
By Joe Mathews
Published 3 years ago on
March 5, 2022

Share

 

California is rapidly losing its diversity. So why aren’t we hearing more about it from our diversity-obsessed media and politicians?

Joe Mathews

Opinion

Because the diversity we are losing is not in our demography but in our economy.

A new report, “Restoring the California Dream,” from Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky at Chapman University, outlines a confluence of economic threats facing California, and raises questions about our collective lack of commitment to diversity, as well as equity and inclusion, when it comes to the jobs and businesses that keep California working.

California has become so drunk on wealth and tax revenues from a handful of big tech companies that it’s ignoring its loss of market share in many industries. We’ve seen declines in the garment business, aerospace, manufacturing, and housing — all former pillars of our once diverse economy.

Our manufacturing and industrial weakness represents a missed opportunity now: With global supply chains broken, industrial jobs are returning to the U.S., but other states are reaping the benefit.

This decline in economic diversity has produced a decline in economic opportunity; the variety of jobs that California enjoyed as recently as 2010, including in manufacturing, is far more limited. Most worryingly, jobs are disappearing in the better-paying sectors of the economy. Many professional service jobs — lawyers, accountants, consultants — are gone. Even our tech and innovation economies are slumping, with far greater growth taking place in Washington and Utah than in California, the report says.

And, those shifts reflect not just declining diversity, but also a loss of equity. That’s equity in the sense of ownership.

Falling Behind in Capital Investment

Signature California firms, including Tesla, Oracle, and Hewlett-Packard, have moved their headquarters out of state, and the speed at which such relocations are happening has been accelerating. Other California tech firms are locating more new projects and investments elsewhere. Intel is investing more than $20 billion in Ohio. We are not keeping up with other big states in capital investment.

Many California watchers, including your columnist, have previously dismissed corporate departures from California by pointing to the state’s unparalleled ability to birth new companies.

But there are signs that our entrepreneurial energy is diminishing. The Bay Area’s proportion of venture capital, that very Californian mode of investing, is falling compared to the rest of the U.S. California’s higher education systems, the inspiration of so much of our innovation, are expanding less rapidly than their competitors elsewhere, and have been consistently failing to produce enough graduates to meet state needs, the report notes.

Homeownership Only for the Rich in Big Cities

If you’re seeking the equity that comes with owning your own home, California is a very hard place to find it. In every age category, homeownership in California is lower than the national average. You’d need to earn well over $200,000 to afford the median home in San Jose.

California needs to get serious about economic policy — and develop a real strategy for convincing more people to live and do business in our state. For that to happen, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion can’t just be a slogan for corporations, schools, and governments. It needs to be an everyday, economic reality.

This lack of equity represents a failure of inclusion: middle-class and working-class people find it difficult to get and keep a foothold in the California economy. Four California areas —Ventura, L.A., San Jose, and San Diego — rank among the bottom 10 regions nationally in well-paying blue-collar jobs, the report says.

Too much has been made of the people leaving California. The percentage of people who leave the state remains small, and the departures are overwhelmingly from Los Angeles, which accounts for more than half of all the net domestic outmigration from the state. Controversies over departures obscure the larger issue: very few people are coming here.

Despite Its Beauty, California Has Become an Unattractive State

By some measures, California is the least attractive state for new residents. Both domestic and international migration to California trails that of other states. The federal government has even been warning refugees against settling in expensive California cities.

When you adjust the metrics to compare California to other states, our high costs translate into the nation’s worst poverty. The Chapman report says that in 2019, cost-adjusted incomes for Latinos and African Americans were lower in California than nationally. And, in perhaps the most devastating statistic of the report, real incomes for California’s African Americans are now lower than those of African Americans in Mississippi.

It’s long been conventional wisdom that poor or less educated people are leaving California, and new arrivals are wealthier and better educated. But that may be changing. The Chapman report, crunching Internal Revenue Service figures, finds that, for the last five years, California’s out-migrants and in-migrants have had roughly equal incomes. The largest share of out-migrants has been in households with incomes between $100,000 and $200,000.

When people leave California, they can’t find a place with our weather and natural beauty, because no such place exists in this solar system. But the study notes that, in Salt Lake City, Denver, Columbus, Austin, Nashville, and other American cities, people are finding much of the same cultural diversity that California offers — along with diverse employment opportunities, inclusive and innovative economies, and more opportunity to build equity through homeownership and businesses. Those cities’ schools are often better, too.

In the face of such trends, California needs to get serious about economic policy — and develop a real strategy for convincing more people to live and do business in our state. For that to happen, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion can’t just be a slogan for corporations, schools, and governments. It needs to be an everyday, economic reality.

About the Author

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

DON'T MISS

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

DON'T MISS

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

DON'T MISS

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

DON'T MISS

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

DON'T MISS

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

DON'T MISS

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

DON'T MISS

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

UP NEXT

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

UP NEXT

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

UP NEXT

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

UP NEXT

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

UP NEXT

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

UP NEXT

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

UP NEXT

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

UP NEXT

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

UP NEXT

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

2 days ago

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

2 days ago

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

2 days ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

2 days ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

2 days ago

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

2 days ago

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

2 days ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

2 days ago

Russia Pounds Kyiv With Largest Drone Attack, Hours After Trump-Putin Call

2 days ago

Boxer Chavez Jr Expected to Be Deported to Mexico to Serve Sentence, Mexican President Says

2 days ago

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

Can you hear it — that loud roar coming from the East? It’s the sound of 1.4 billion Chinese laughing at us. Thomas L. Friedman The New Yo...

17 hours ago

Solar Farm in Riesel, Texas
17 hours ago

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

Caitlin Clark Signs T-Shirt
17 hours ago

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 days ago

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

The Madre Fire burning near New Cuyama has scorched 70,801 acres as of Friday, July 4, 2025, afternoon, making it California’s largest wildfire of the year, with only 10% containment and multiple evacuation zones in place. (CalFire)
2 days ago

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

2 days ago

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

A pumpjack operates at the Vermilion Energy site in Trigueres, France, June 14, 2024. (Reuters File)
2 days ago

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 days ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

Billy Wayne Sinisgalli, a 54-year-old transient known locally as Wayne, was found dead along a rural Fresno road Wednesday in what authorities are investigating as a suspicious death. (Fresno County SO)
2 days ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend