California Businesses Stop Hiring (opens in new tab)

(hoover.org)

21 points11thEarlOfMar1y ago23 comments

23 comments

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. You can usually prove whatever outcome you desire by choosing your starting and ending dates carefully.

While I don't doubt that CA has major economic problems, they chose their time range as Jan 2022 - June 2024. The huge tech layoffs began in ~mid 2022, largely as a result of huge over-hiring during the previous 2 years. So while CA indeed had abysmal job growth numbers over that period, I'd be very interested to know what, say, the past 5 or 6 years looked like in total, including both the pandemic boom and subsequent bust.

coding1231y ago

It really is correct though and 2 years is a pretty extensive time for the state to basically do nothing to stop it.

dgfitz1y ago

I think most general search engines can answer your question. Given the question, you won’t like the answer.

chomp1y ago

Used a search engine.

First result: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/08/16/california-created-nearly-...

Please explain.

1 more reply

JackYoustra1y ago

You're telling me that at historically low unemployment, we can't magic people out of thin air to fill jobs???

I hope someone tells USCIS.

lolinder1y ago

California also has one of the worst unemployment rates in the country, only beaten by Nevada and DC.

https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm

matrix871y ago

Hey, if these businesses are upset about the cost of housing making people too expensive, maybe they should put their thumb on the scale regarding that political issue? Or does that make too much sense?

I mean, what are we keeping all of these SFHs in dense areas sitting around for? Just to get people to drive around more and be more expensive?

werkjohann1y ago

In a way, they are. E.g. look at Apple, which is relocating a ton of roles to the San Diego area (and Seattle some).

jmspring1y ago

Um, as a former CA business owner, there isn't a significant cost to start or support a business - aside from the annoying $800/min LLC "tax". The real problem is the fact that most people starting small businesses that want to hire people end up with people that do not want to work, are flakey, etc. We had a "successful" (paid for itself) plant business in far north eastern CA in a traditionally Summer/vacation area (open year round - paid well above median wage for the area). My wife and I also had other lives. Reliability was a huge thing. Sure people want to work - on their own terms. We couldn't get consistent help and said "we are done". This was 2021-2023.

That's a way bigger issue than some state booga booga conspiracy bullshit.

UltraSane1y ago

When employers say “People that do not want to work” they ALWAYS mean “People that do not want to work for what I'm willing to pay”. Many US companies seem to feel incredibly entitled to cheap labor.

SoftTalker1y ago

And people who have no experience feel incredibly entitled to judge others.

A job has a value. A business cannot pay more than that, or they will not be able to remain a going concern. Businesses cannot simply raise their prices in a competitive market, nor can they operate at a loss to pay their employees more.

You might be surprised how little bottom-line profit most small businesses generate. It's maybe a few percent above what a savings account would pay. If they can't earn enough to compensate for their risk and time, owners will just close up.

2 more replies

jmspring1y ago

This was a small business that actually paid more than most of the county's early to mid career hourly rates per govt employees - including sheriff's office jail staff.

It's not uncommon for people to not show up to work, just say "i don't feel like it", etc.

seiferteric1y ago

But sounds like they accepted the job but just didn’t do it well. There’s no excuse for that.

mingus881y ago

“People that do not want to work” is code for businesses not paying a living wage, forcing people to work multiple jobs to make rent with no health insurance

Let me ask you, would you put in 110% for an employer that would pay you less if they were legally allowed to?

toss11y ago

Serious question: What wages and benefits were you offering for what jobs, and how did that compare to the other jobs available regionally? What kind of advancement did you offer?

If you are offering top compensation and still finding everyone flakes out, we have a serious problem.

If you are offering less than average for similar jobs, it is not the slightest bit surprising that the only people willing to start work at that job tend to flake out.

If you are offering less than a living wage, you did not have a viable business model (if you need to exploit other humans in dire straits to sustain operations, you have an exploitation model, not a business model).

jmspring1y ago

Small retail business, paid $20-22/hr which was much more than many positions on the county govt job pay scale posting that they publish - for instance a sheriff's office jailer starts at like $17.

1 more reply

the_real_cher1y ago

I can't believe that in a state with 40 million people, there was only 4700 hundred private sector jobs created?

Is this serious?

I'm no democrat but this article seems off.

This data says California created 17 million new jobs.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/job-growth-...

Wheres the disconnect?

CBLT1y ago

The number "created" in TFA is just the delta in employed over the time period, with every person no longer employed in-state (for any reason) counting against the people newly employed in CA. Click the link in the article to see the graph of CA jobs, there's seasonal fluctuations but overall it looks flat over the last two years.

lolinder1y ago

17.9 million in your link is "Total Jobs (Feb 2023)".

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

23 comments

hn_throwaway_991y ago

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. You can usually prove whatever outcome you desire by choosing your starting and ending dates carefully.

coding1231y ago

It really is correct though and 2 years is a pretty extensive time for the state to basically do nothing to stop it.

dgfitz1y ago

I think most general search engines can answer your question. Given the question, you won’t like the answer.

chomp1y ago

Used a search engine.

First result: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/08/16/california-created-nearly-...

Please explain.

1 more reply

JackYoustra1y ago

You're telling me that at historically low unemployment, we can't magic people out of thin air to fill jobs???

I hope someone tells USCIS.

lolinder1y ago

California also has one of the worst unemployment rates in the country, only beaten by Nevada and DC.

https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm

matrix871y ago

I mean, what are we keeping all of these SFHs in dense areas sitting around for? Just to get people to drive around more and be more expensive?

werkjohann1y ago

In a way, they are. E.g. look at Apple, which is relocating a ton of roles to the San Diego area (and Seattle some).

jmspring1y ago

That's a way bigger issue than some state booga booga conspiracy bullshit.

UltraSane1y ago

SoftTalker1y ago

And people who have no experience feel incredibly entitled to judge others.

2 more replies

jmspring1y ago

This was a small business that actually paid more than most of the county's early to mid career hourly rates per govt employees - including sheriff's office jail staff.

It's not uncommon for people to not show up to work, just say "i don't feel like it", etc.

seiferteric1y ago

But sounds like they accepted the job but just didn’t do it well. There’s no excuse for that.

mingus881y ago

“People that do not want to work” is code for businesses not paying a living wage, forcing people to work multiple jobs to make rent with no health insurance

Let me ask you, would you put in 110% for an employer that would pay you less if they were legally allowed to?

toss11y ago

Serious question: What wages and benefits were you offering for what jobs, and how did that compare to the other jobs available regionally? What kind of advancement did you offer?

If you are offering top compensation and still finding everyone flakes out, we have a serious problem.

If you are offering less than average for similar jobs, it is not the slightest bit surprising that the only people willing to start work at that job tend to flake out.

jmspring1y ago

Small retail business, paid $20-22/hr which was much more than many positions on the county govt job pay scale posting that they publish - for instance a sheriff's office jailer starts at like $17.

1 more reply

the_real_cher1y ago

I can't believe that in a state with 40 million people, there was only 4700 hundred private sector jobs created?

Is this serious?

I'm no democrat but this article seems off.

This data says California created 17 million new jobs.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/job-growth-...

Wheres the disconnect?

CBLT1y ago

lolinder1y ago

17.9 million in your link is "Total Jobs (Feb 2023)".

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse