Ambassador of the Month Archive

California Outpacing Nation in Employment Growth in 2021

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

(Beacon Economics) California’s labor market continued to expand at a rapid pace in May, according to an analysis released jointly with the UCR School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development. Total nonfarm employment in the state grew by 104,500 positions over the month and California accounted for 18.7% of the 559,000 net jobs added in the nation. In addition to California’s strong monthly gains in May, April’s gains were revised up to 102,000 in the latest numbers, a +200 increase from the preliminary estimate of 101,800. Over the past four months, California’s economy has added close to 500,000 jobs, representing the fastes...

The Economy Isn’t Going Back to February 2020, Fundamental Shifts Have Occurred

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

(The Washington Post) The U.S. economy is emerging from the coronavirus pandemic with considerable speed but markedly transformed, as businesses and consumers struggle to adapt to a new landscape with higher prices, fewer workers, new innovations, and a range of inconveniences. In late February 2020, the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, inflation was tame, wages were rising and American companies were attempting to recover from a multiyear trade war. The pandemic disrupted everything, damaging some parts of the economy much more than others. But a mass vaccination effort and the virus’s steady retreat this year has allowed many businesses and communities to reopen. What Americans ar...

California Defies Doom With No. 1 US Economy

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

(Bloomberg) When misfortunes multiplied during the coronavirus pandemic, observers seized on a four-letter word signaling end of days for the largest state with one-eighth the U.S. population and 14% of its gross domestic product. “California doom: Staggering $54 billion deficit looms,” the Associated Press concluded a year ago in May. “California Is Doomed,” declared Business Insider two months earlier. ”Is California doomed to keep burning?” queried the New Republic in October. California is “Doomed” because of rising sea levels, according to an April EcoNews Report. Bulletins of people leaving the world's fifth-biggest economy for lower-cost states because of high taxes and too much regulation stifling business continue unabated. No one anticipated the latest data readout showin...

Not All Industries Experienced Declines During the Pandemic

Tuesday, June 08, 2021

(U.S. Census) Consumer habits shifted dramatically in March 2020 in response to stay-at-home orders and the shuttering of offices across the nation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. There were reports of people traveling less, workers gaining unprecedented freedom to work from anywhere and consumers ordering more products online. But did these lifestyle changes affect industries in the same way? Not according to a review of the seasonally adjusted 2020 quarterly revenue estimates published by the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Services Survey (QSS). We found that both couriers and messengers and offices of real estate agents and brokers ended the year with revenue above pre-pandemic levels from the last quarte...

Irvine Ranked Nation's 6th Top Entrepreneurial City for Small Business

Wednesday, June 02, 2021

Alliance Virtual Offices has ranked the most entrepreneurial cities in the U.S. based on access to resources to help small enterprises succeed. The group analyzed small businesses-friendly metro areas across the nation, "some due to their strategic geographic locations, others for the sheer number of growing industries, and others yet for the city or state’s favorable tax climates and initiatives." At number six, the report says: Irvine is the economic pulse of Orange County—and for good reason. Situated near other West Coast urban centers like Los Angeles and San Diego, this master-planned city is serious about business. Several Fortune 500 companies call it home, and it’s also a hub fo...

Orange County Expects Improved FY 2021-22 Budget, Spending $7.7 Billion

Wednesday, June 02, 2021

(Orange County Register) Orange County’s financial condition is much less dire than some feared it would be when the coronavirus pandemic shut down businesses, schools, and even some government services for months starting early last year. County supervisors will vote in June on a budget for fiscal year 2021-22 that would spend $7.7 billion, just a little less than where this year’s spending is expected to end up, at $7.9 billion. OC’s fiscal position is relatively healthy in part because the county had the tools already in place to be proactive, Chief Financial Officer Michelle Aguirre said. Once the pandemic hit last year...

The Economic Recovery is Here and it’s Unlike Anything You’ve Seen

Wednesday, June 02, 2021

(Wall Street Journal) The U.S. economic recovery is unlike any in recent history, powered by consumers with trillions in extra savings, businesses eager to hire and enormous policy support. Businesses and workers are poised to emerge from the downturn with far less permanent damage than occurred after recent recessions, particularly the 2007-09 downturn. New businesses are popping up at the fastest pace on record. The rate at which workers quit their jobs—a proxy for confidence in the labor market—matches the highest going back at least to 2000. American household debt-service burdens, as a share of after-tax income, are near their lowest levels since 1980, when records began. Th...

Businesses Lease Office Space, Furniture, and … Workers

Thursday, May 27, 2021

(U.S. Census) Since the industrial revolution, businesses have strived to streamline operations to maximize employee productivity and minimize costs. They embraced automation, a popular way to modernize workflows and production processes, but it was not enough. Enter California businessman Marvin R. Selter, who in the late 1960s popularized a concept that gave businesses a way to avoid employment taxes and other costs: lease — not hire — employees. How would it work? Leasing firms would provide the leased workforce and handle all the human resources, payroll, and employee benefit functions for the client, but the client would still maintain day-to-day management of the workers. Th...

Governor Newsom Proposes $95 Million for Travel and Hospitality Industry to Promote California as a Travel Destination

Thursday, May 27, 2021

Governor Newsom on May 13 announced he will propose a $95 million investment in his May Revise to fund an expansion of Visit California’s successful marketing campaigns. This funding is critical to the state’s travel and hospitality industry as the country reopens. Before COVID-19 hit, the travel and hospitality industry was one of the largest economic drivers—and the largest export—for California, the nation’s No. 1 tourism destination. In 2019, visitors spent $145 billion at California businesses, supporting 1.2 million jobs. “We thank Governor Newsom for understanding and championing the tourism industry,” said Emellia Zamani, director of government affairs for the California Travel Association...

Southern California Housing Hits Third Record Price in a Row

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

(Orange County Register) What a difference a year makes. In April 2020, Southern California home prices dipped and sales plummeted by a third during shelter-in-place orders that all but shut down the economy. This past April, though, a housing market boom roared into its 10th straight month with sales almost double year-ago levels and home prices hitting a third record high in a row. Last month’s median home price – or price at the midpoint of all sales – hit $655,000, leaping $25,000 from March levels and $110,000 from April of last year, DQ News/CoreLogic figures released Tuesday, May 25, show. That’s the second bigges...

US Job Openings Soar to Highest Level on Record

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

(AP) U.S. employers posted a record number of available jobs in March, illustrating starkly the desperation of businesses trying to find new workers as the country emerges from the pandemic and the economy expands. Yet total job gains increased only modestly, according to a Labor Department report issued on March 11. The figures follow an April jobs report last week that was far weaker than expected, largely because companies appear unable to find the workers they need, even with the unemployment rate elevated at 6.1%. Job openings rose nearly 8%, to 8.1 million in March, the most on records dating back to December 2000, the governmen...

Governor Newsom Proposes $5.1B Water, Drought Infrastructure Plan

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

(CalChamber) Governor Gavin Newsom on May 10 unveiled a $5.1 billion plan for California’s water infrastructure, drought response, and preparations for a “climate-resilient system.” In addition to the proposed $5.1 billion funding, which will be spread out over four years, the plan includes $1 billion to help Californians pay their overdue water bills. Drought Preparedness and Response The Governor’s plan makes investments to support safe drinking water, water supply and reliability, and flood resilience by allocating: $1.3 billion for drinking water/wastewater infrastructure, especially for small and disadvantaged communities; $150 million for groundwater cleanup and water recycling to improve climate resilience; $300 million for Sustainable Groundwater Management Ac...

New $600-Plus CA Stimulus Plan Would Affect Majority of Residents

Monday, May 10, 2021

(Patch) Gov. Gavin Newsom on May 10 proposed another round of $600 California stimulus checks, which would go to both middle-class and low-income residents. The "immediate" relief is part of a proposed $100 billion California Comeback Plan, which is made possible by a historic $75.7 billion budget surplus, Newsom said. The governor touted the proposal as the biggest recovery package in state history. "This time last year we announced a $54.3 billion projected shortfall. Today, we are announcing a projected $75.7 billion budget surplus," Newsom said at a May 10 news conference in Alameda County. "It's a remarkable turnaround. ... California is going t...

Job Paradox Baffles Economists as US Employers See Worker Shortage

Thursday, May 06, 2021

(Bloomberg) As the U.S. job market comes roaring back, there’s a growing debate about whether there are enough workers to power faster economic growth. Companies from fast-food chains like Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. to chicken producer Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and MGM Resorts International say they can’t find—or entice—enough workers. In earnings calls and business surveys, executives often blame stimulus checks and generous unemployment benefits for hampering hiring efforts. But economists and policymakers are unclear about what’s really causing this gap and how long it will last. Hiring remains robust for now, indicating these labor disparities aren’t necessarily a problem. The worry is if labo...

National Travel & Tourism Week May 2-8, Recognizes the Power of Travel

Sunday, May 02, 2021

Established in 1983 by a congressional resolution, National Travel and Tourism Week (NTTW) is an annual tradition during the first full week of May for the U.S. travel community to celebrate the value travel holds for the economy, business, and personal wellbeing. “NTTW takes on a special significance this year as the travel and tourism industry looks to rebound from the pandemic,” said Wendy Haase, vice president, Destination Irvine, a division of the Greater Irvine Chamber. “Despite the hardships of the last year, the Irvine hospitality community is ready and eager to welcome back visitors and help drive the city’s recover...

The Case for California: Why Stories About the Golden State’s Demise Are Overblown

Friday, April 30, 2021

(Forbes) Paying $3,150 a month for a one-bedroom apartment is absurd — unless you’re living in San Francisco. For computer engineer David Berrios and his wife, it was worth it to live in this 49-square-mile technology paradise by the Bay. From their perch near Mount Olympus in the Corona Heights neighborhood, they could stroll down the hill to Haight-Ashbury or walk to a favorite jiu jitsu studio — or anywhere else in the city, for that matter. That changed a year ago, when San Francisco became the first major city in the country to lock down in the pandemic. A former NAS...

SoCal Added 64.5K Jobs in March, in Growth Mode to Recapture Pre-Pandemic Levels

Monday, April 19, 2021

(Southern California News Group) Southern California bosses added 64,500 jobs in March as pandemic-related business limitations left the region 753,900 workers short of pre-coronavirus employment. State job figures released April 16, found local bosses had 7.14 million employees last month in the four counties covered by the Southern California News Group. This staffing level, derived from a survey of employers, was up 0.91% in a month or 103,600 jobs. The region added an average 46,236 workers monthly since April’s economic bottom. The region’s economy is back in growth mode with additional businesses allowed to reopen as more residents get vaccinated and COVID-19 death...

Orange County Cities Getting $715 Million, Local Leaders Consider how to Spend It

Friday, April 16, 2021

(Orange County Register) Each of Orange County’s 34 cities will receive a share of about $715 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, and for some, the two-year aid bill corrects their exclusion from earlier rounds of federal assistance. Since the coronavirus pandemic forced businesses to slow down, most cities in Orange County have lost tax revenue and borne unexpected expenses. In last year’s CARES Act, the county itself got $554 million, but that bill only allowed cities with populations of 500,000 or more to get money directly, so no OC city made the cut. This round of federal aid “is going t...

California Job Recovery Picks Up Steam, Accounting For Over One-Third Of All Jobs Added In U.S.

Friday, March 26, 2021

California’s labor market recovery picked up steam in February, with total nonfarm employment in the state expanding by 141,000 positions over the month, according to an analysis released jointly by Beacon Economics and the UCR School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development. 37% CA Share Of All Jobs Added In U.S. While the late 2020 surge in COVID-19 cases and the associated health-mandated business restrictions took a toll on the state’s labor market in December and January, the February figures represent the highest monthly job gains for the state since June of last year. In contrast to its earlier trend, California helped t...

Many American Households Use Stimulus Payments to Pay Down Debt

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Americans are poised to receive a third round of stimulus checks through the new American Rescue Plan Act and data from the Census Bureau’s experimental Household Pulse Survey show past stimulus payments helped ease financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first round of COVID stimulus payments of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per child began reaching households in April and May 2020. According to the survey, around a quarter of adults in those households were still using those payments to pay for usual expenses as of the first half of June 2020. But Household Pulse data also suggest many households may have accumulated deb...

CA Has 11th Lowest Tax Rate In The Country

Friday, March 12, 2021

(Patch) If you feel as though you have been working harder than you have ever been, but your paychecks are somehow lighter, it's not your imagination or some coronavirus-fueled fever dream. WalletHub released its annual Taxpayer Survey, a snapshot of each state's taxation obligations. The Golden State ranked 11th, just behind Tennesee, in the category of Overall State & Local Tax Rate. WalletHub comes up with the scores by factoring in a variety of tax obligations, none of which were anything California could really shout about: Tax Rates in California (1=Lowest; 25=Average): 11th – Overall Effective State & Local Tax Rate 13th – Income Tax 16th – Real-Estat...

California Economic Recovery Forecast to Outpace the US

Thursday, March 11, 2021

(Los Angeles Times) The U.S. and California economies will experience near-record growth this year thanks to widespread vaccinations for COVID-19 and massive federal relief for struggling workers and businesses, UCLA forecasters predict. “A waning pandemic combined with fiscal relief means a strong year of growth in 2021 — one of the strongest years of growth in the last 60 years — followed by sustained higher growth rates in 2022 and 2023,” according to the quarterly economic outlook released March 10. California, buoyed by high-earning technology and professional sectors that shifted to at-home work during the pandemic, will recover somewhat faster than the U.S., even thoug...

Big News in Irvine Retail

Friday, March 05, 2021

By Bryan Starr President & CEO Greater Irvine Chamber (Irvine Standard: March 3, 2021) Spring weather is calling us back outside to enjoy Irvine’s open-air shopping and dining. Irvine Standard asked Greater Irvine Chamber President & CEO Bryan Starr for his insights and forecasts on retail in 2021. What’s new and exciting with retail in Irvine right now? I spoke to the retail experts at Irvine Company about the past year and what to look for in 2021. There’s a lot of news to share. Two new H Marts are coming to Irvine – one in Northpark Plaza, the other at Westpark Plaza. Newfound Market at Spectrum Cente...

Irvine TV Maker Vizio Tries Again for IPO

Tuesday, March 02, 2021

(Los Angeles Times) Smart-TV maker Vizio Holding Corp., backed by affiliates of Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, has filed again to go public, this time with a growing entertainment platform. Vizio in its filing Monday listed the size of the offering as $100 million, a placeholder that will change. The number and proposed price for the shares to be offered by the company and selling stockholders will be disclosed in a filing later. Vizio filed to go public in 2015 but withdrew that plan the following year after reaching an agreement to sell the company for $2 billion. Vizio terminated that deal with an affiliate o...

California Still a Top Exporting State

Monday, March 01, 2021

(CalChamber) Trade statistics released this month by the U.S. Department of Commerce show that California remained a top exporting state in 2020. California exported $156.112 billion worth of goods to the world in 2020. As usual, computer and electronic products made up the bulk of exports at 24.1% ($37.56 billion), down from $40 billion in 2019. Transportation equipment and nonelectrical machinery made up 11.1% and 10.8% of total exports, respectively. Trade Overview In 2020, the United States exported a total of $1.431 trillion in goods to the world and imported $2.336 trillion, creating a goods deficit of $905.17 billion. U.S. exports decreased by 12.88...

In Case You Missed It: Greater Irvine Chamber Business Outlook Presentation and Slides Available Online

Friday, January 29, 2021

Whether you missed the Jan. 28 live-streamed presentation of the 2021 Greater Irvine Chamber Business Outlook event, would like to revisit it, or share it with others, the complete presentation, program booklet, and Chris Schwarz’s slide deck can be accessed here: Business Outlook 2021.

Sonesta Hospitality Portfolio Grows with Two New Irvine Hotels

Tuesday, January 05, 2021

Sonesta International Hotels Corporation has introduced two of its newest properties in the U.S. in Irvine: Sonesta Irvine - Orange County Airport (formerly the Wyndham Irvine–Orange County Airport) located at 17941 Von Karman Ave., and Sonesta Simply Suites Orange County–Spectrum Center (formerly Candlewood Suites) at 16150 Sand Canyon Ave. With the addition of these Irvine hotels, Sonesta’s national footprint expands in a key tourism and business region. Sonesta Irvine is the company’s third full-service hotel in the California. Minutes away from Orange County’s John Wayne Airport, Sonesta Irvine boasts 335 rooms and suites and 11 venues totaling 7,500 square feet of flexible meetin...

Ambassador of the Month Archive

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