So, as it turns out, back in June 2014, California’s labor market finally recovered all of the jobs lost during the Great Recession, according to a report by Next 10.
Next 10, if you've never heard of them, employs research from leading experts on state issues and creates a portfolio of educational materials. They just got around to finalizing the crunching of the data, along with Beacon Economics, which is one of California’s leading economic research and consulting firms.
One of the nation’s hardest hit locations in the wake of the housing collapse is California. Low-wage job growth in California ranked third in the nation, which post-recession period favored over middle-wage, ranked 11th in the nation, and high-wage job growth.
However, California continues to contain a significant amount of jobs in middle-wage and high-wage industries as well. In fact, California leads the nation in both middle-wage and high-wage job creation during the post-recession recovery.
California's current housing market suffers from a shortage of supply and the lingering effects of the housing crash and the Great Recession, according to the report.
“California has an employment boom with a housing problem,” said Christopher Thornberg, co-author of the reports and founding partner of Beacon Economics. “The state continues to offer great employment opportunities for all kinds of workers. But housing affordability and supply represent a major problem. If we want to attract and keep low- and middle-income families in California, we need to address it.”
Historically low homeownership rates declined throughout California, as many residents remain unqualified for mortgage loans. Those with recent foreclosures on record find it especially hard.
In fact, California ranked 49th in terms of homeownership in 2014, as only 53.8% of homes were owner-occupied. Some of this can be contributed to the high housing costs relative to the average income.
Housing remains overcrowded as the proportion of renter-occupied housing units with more than one person per bedroom grew from 12.7% in 2007 to 13.2% in 2014.
California experienced a negative net domestic migration of 625,000 from 2007 to 2014. In other words, 625,000 more people moved out of California to other states than moved into California from other states, according to the report.
On the other side, California was a net importer of residents from 15 states and the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2014.
Despite the fact that Californians 25 years of age and over that do not posses four-year college degrees accounted for over 469,800 out-migrants, it remains the top state attracting international migrants, many of which are low-income earners and those that have obtained a bachelor’s degree.
