California Ranked Second to Last in Retention of Companies and Jobs Over Last Four
Years, But Recent Jobs Figures Look Stronger
A Dun & Bradstreet study released Tuesday showed California ranked 52nd of 53
states and territories in overall ability to retain companies and jobs between 1991 and 1995,
with only New York ranking behind California.
The results look particuarly pessimistic because they cover data for years during
which California was deeply mired in recession. California suffered a loss of 3,159
companies and nearly 80,000 jobs in the five year period that Dun & Bradstreet studied,
with 1991 being the worst single year overall. Regional differences in cost structure and
labor characteristics were the primary causes for California's company and job lossess.
Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, and Colorado were the states that benefited most from
California's out-migration of jobs.
The good news, however, is that California's economy has rebounded of late and a
recent Anderson/UCLA Business Forecasting Project report estimated that California will
outpace the rest of the country in job growth in the next year, possibly adding as many as
950,000 jobs in the next three years. And Stephen Levy, Director of the Center for
Continuing Study of the California Economy and Vice Chair of the Institute's Economic
Advisory Council as early as last fall estimated that California might create as many as
350,000 new jobs in 1996.

Volume 4, Bulletin 1 -- January 9, 1997