A California Update
California Unemployment
4.4% - that’s pretty darn good.
It was 3.9% just before covid in February, 2020.
It peaked at 17.6% just 3 months later.
Only San Bernardino and Riverside counties are ABOVE pre-pandemic numbers at 102.9% of pre-virus jobs.
4.3% unemployment for SB and Riverside counties.
The big winners in So Cal?
Transportation/Warehousing employment is at 119% of pre-pandemic numbers.
Healthcare and business services are holding fairly even from February 2020.
The industries furthest behind?
Predictably, hospitality at 75%, arts, entertainment and recreation at 88% and restaurants at 95%.
Some good news for businesses wondering when workers will start showing up for job interviews. One Farmer’s Insurance agency owner reported receiving 97 applications for a single job posting for an entry level insurance position at her agency.
Evidently, now that rent is due and funds have run out, there just might be a motive to work.
Under the category “Is this for real?”
Having just won the “Fight for $15” in the last few years, the California legislature is pursuing an agenda that would take the weekly minimum wage from $600/week to $480. Yep, the fight for 15 has morphed into the “Fight for 32”. The 32 hour workweek, that is. This will soon morph into the number of weekly hours that your average California elected officials put in: “The Elite Eight”, completely bypassing the “Sweet Sixteen”. Let’s look into this bill:
Only applies to companies with 500 employees or more. Where have we heard that before…
Anything over 32 hours will be overtime.
This would allow more family time… with $120 less per week. Just when you thought you didn’t have to get a second job…
Oh, but wait. Companies would NOT be able to reduce pay. How does that work?!
Guess who is exempt? Wait for it.. wait for it… unions.
So, if you want to work 40 hours, I guess you have to join the union. That’s interesting.
The Consumer Price Index – The CPI
It’s that time of the month again: the measurement of the CPI aka inflation.
For the month of March, the CPI was 8.5%. The last time we saw that was 1982.
The CPI peaked at 14.8% in March of 1980. Let’s not test that record.
An excellent example: two Carl’s Jr. western bacon cheeseburger combo meals, upgraded to a medium coke and criss-cut fries - $28.01 including the $2.25 tax. This was last week.
Jiminy – whatever happened to the six dollar burger??
Next stop is the PPI – the Producer Price Index – stay tuned…
Speaking of rates, what else is going up? Aluminum.
Guess who supplies 6% of the aluminum in the US? Russia.
When there is less of something, what happens to the price of that something assuming demand stays the same? It goes up.
Consequently, all of a sudden aluminum recycling is back in vogue.
Other items affected by the Russian-Ukraine war: nickel, wheat, corn, oil, gas and cooking oil. By “affected” I mean either or both of those countries export those goods. And those goods go into a lot of products.
And finally…
MIT reinstated the SAT and ACT tests, citing the fact that they are the best predictor of academic success.
In case you did not know, the Cal State University system as well as the University of California no longer require either of those tests for admission consideration.
Meanwhile, newspapers are excited to report that applications to UC are at record numbers but somehow can’t figure out why applications to Community Colleges have fallen. Perhaps when the one obstacle to applying to UC is removed, you’ll get more applications…
Walmart has upped the pay for its truck drivers to… $95,000 to $110,000 in the first year.
The average starting salary for a recent college graduate in California is $68,485. On the road again…
Who was Eugene Melnyk?
The short answer is that he was the owner of the Ottawa Senators hockey team. He was also the founder of Biovail Corp. which became one of Canada’s largest corporations. He passed away at the end of March at the age of 62.
He dropped out of York University after attending only two lectures. Why?
A professor asked the students to propose a strategy for inspiring unmotivated employees. Some students suggested bonuses or reduced workloads. Mr. Melnyk recalled his answer was: “Get new employees who are motivated to work. Give them all the tools they need and set them up for success, but demand uncompromising quality and execution.”
The professor disagreed.
“I told him he was wrong and never went back to school again,” Mr. Melnyk said.
I expect that as the economy slows in the next year, it may be a good time to find new employees who are already motivated to work, even if it is from home. But finding good employees in and of itself takes commitment. Make it part of your plan.
