According to a new study by UC Irvine economists, California has had average growth in economic output over the past 20 years, but slower overall job growth and rising poverty rates than most other states.   

The findings, which include additional comparisons of economic outcomes, are available in a free interactive online database at Compare50.org and point to key areas where the Golden State’s economic performance comes up short, says report co-author David Neumark.

“Debate about appropriate economic policies have to be based, first and foremost, on a solid foundation about the comparative economic performance of the state,” says Neumark, UC Irvine economics Chancellor’s Professor and Center for Economics & Public Policy director. “The Compare50 database provides policymakers, journalists and others an easy-to-use tool to do such comparisons.”

Supported by the non-profit Next 10 Foundation, Neumark and Jennifer Muz, economics graduate student, compiled data on key economic measures - including economic growth, job growth, layoffs and unemployment, earnings, income distribution and poverty - in all 50 states. Data sources included the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and Current Population Survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“It’s important to look at California’s status in comparison to other states, rather than in a vacuum, to get an idea of what’s happened and where we should focus policy efforts,” Neumark says.

For California, job growth in particular has been fairly slow when compared with other states, which is worrisome for reducing unemployment in the long-term, he says.

A bright spot for the state was in gross state product, or income. California’s per capita real growth was slightly higher than the U.S. as a whole and appears to be on the rise.

“The fact that economic growth is outstripping job growth suggests that the state is successfully adding high-wage jobs, while opportunities for low-skilled workers may be declining,” he says.

“We hope our data will be used to generate new hypotheses or explanations regarding state economic performance, and identify problem areas policymakers may want to address as well as those where good economic performance in the state suggests that policy changes are not needed,” he says.

The full report and interactive database are available online.  

-Heather Ashbach, Social Sciences Communications