Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce
Our mission is to advance the economic vitality of greater Irvine.
Our mission is to advance the economic vitality of greater Irvine.
By Bryan Starr, President and CEO, Greater Irvine Chamber As Published in the Orange County Register | Irvine World News: May 16, 2019 The adage often quoted, “It takes a village,” holds true for many important achievements. Partnerships make up the “village” of support that helps strengthen Irvine’s vibrant community, which is looked to as a model for cities throughout the world. A diverse catalog of partnerships is the cornerstone of Irvine’s success. In fact, Irvine was designed with partnerships in mind. The visionary Irvine Master Plan established more than a half-century ago planned for Irvine to be built around a university, now the University of California, Irvine (UCI), to ensure the city has a sustainable, highly-skilled workforce-ready population well into the future. Today, as then, partnerships ensure Irvine continues to provide an unparalleled quality of life for all of its residents and visitors alike. Many of the Chamber’s corporate partners are engaged in collaborative efforts that help achieve common goals in the community. Allergan and Edwards Lifesciences support Easterseals Southern California’s new Autism Therapy and Disability Services Center in Irvine which provides more than 1,000 people with state-of-the-art autism therapy services. The Allergan Foundation supports several UCI programs, including the Student Achievement Guided by Experience...
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With trade being a top tier national issue, the California Chamber of Commerce continues to communicate its international trade priorities to secure a national free trade agenda. Such an agenda is in keeping with the CalChamber’s long-standing support for eliminating disincentives that impede the international competitiveness of California business. The economic advances that international commerce makes possible are clear, despite the regular attacks, and World Trade Month activities each May appropriately provide many opportunities to acknowledge the importance of global trade to the economies of California and the United States. The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that more than 97 percent of the nearly 285,000 U.S. companies exporting goods in 2017 were small or medium-sized businesses with fewer than 500 employees. About a third of CalChamber members are engaged in international commerce, and more than two-thirds are small or medium-sized enterprises. Prosperity through Trade California’s diverse economy relies heavily on exports and imports of both goods and services by California-based companies. It is a complex, inter-connected network that involves exports and imports through California’s transportation gateways, as well as inflows and outflows of human and capital resources. The statistics underscore the importance of our international connections. In 2018, California exported $178.4 billion to 230 foreign economies,...
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Economic growth in China and the United States could be 0.2-0.3 percent lower on average by 2021 and 2022 if the two countries do not row back on tit-for-tat tariffs in their dispute that has dampened the global economic outlook, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said. U.S. President Donald Trump has raised tariffs on $200 billion on Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent in the long-running trade row, while Beijing said it would hit back by lifting tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods. The global economy would grow by only 3.2 percent this year as growth in trade flows is nearly halved this year to only 2.1 percent, the OECD said in its biannual Economic Outlook. That would be the slowest pace of global economic growth since 2016 and was down marginally from the Paris-based policy forum’s last forecast in March for growth of 3.3 percent. The world economy should fare slightly better next year with a growth rate of 3.4 percent, but only if the United States and China pull back from tariff hikes announced this month. The OECD said growth in China and the United States could come in 0.2-0.3 percent lower on average by 2021 and...
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California’s unemployment remained at 4.3 percent in April while the state’s employers added 46,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, according to data released today by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) from two surveys. California has now gained a total of 3,213,900 jobs since the economic expansion began in February 2010. The U.S. unemployment rate decreased to 3.6 percent, and the nation’s employers added 263,000 nonfarm payroll jobs. In April 2018, the state’s unemployment rate was 4.3 percent. The unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,100 California households. Nonfarm payroll jobs in California totaled 17,403,500 in April, according to a survey of businesses that is larger and less variable statistically. The survey of 80,000 California businesses measures jobs in the economy. The year-over change from April 2018 to April 2019 shows an increase of 271,600 jobs (up 1.6 percent). Employment And Unemployment In California The federal household survey, done with a smaller sample than the survey of employers, shows a decrease in the number of employed Californians over the month. It estimates the number of Californians holding jobs in April was 18,692,000, a decrease of 50,000 from March and up 195,000 from the employment total in April of last year. The number of unemployed Californians...
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