California’s Powerful, but Obscure, Answer to the COVID Jobs Crisis

You May Never Have Heard of Your Local Workforce Development Boards, but They Know How to Move the State Forward

We can bring jobs back to California, and we can do it right now. The latest employment numbers should provide the sense of urgency. An additional 287,354 new unemployment insurance claims were filed just for the week ending June 20, bringing the total to more than 6.7 million claims filed in California since mid-March, and $33.5 billion in unemployment benefits paid. Our California economy is now surviving in good part on unemployment insurance payments.

To understand how to respond to the current predicament, Californians should turn to the front lines of …

by Michael Bernick | July 10, 2020

Will Anyone Ever Be Able to Afford to Live in California?

Housing Affordability Is a Long-Term Problem, but COVID Could Help Reset the Conversation

by Sara Suárez | June 30, 2020

On June 24, the UCLA Anderson Forecast predicted a difficult economic future for California and reported that the U.S. economy is in a “Depression-like crisis.” What does this mean for …

Now Is the Time for California to Think Big, Again

Will the State Use This Moment to Be Ambitious—Or Shrink Back Into Its Old Habit of Budget Cuts?

by Joe Mathews | April 21, 2020

Coronavirus is forcing Californians to isolate themselves. But it has brought us together in one big way: by fusing all of our biggest problems into one colossal crisis.

That crisis could …

The Bad News Behind California’s Good Times

Economic Busts Are Bad in the Golden State, but Booms Can Be Even Worse

by Joe Mathews | January 14, 2020

Californians, being tougher than we look, have always found ways to survive our economic busts.

It’s the booms that bring us to our breaking point.

This essential truth is being missed in …

America Takes a Capitalist Licking and Keeps on Ticking

The U.S. Owes Its Prosperity, in Part, to Its Tolerance for Bad Times, Says The Economist’s Adrian Wooldridge

by Eryn Brown | January 25, 2019

The United States enjoys a special place atop the global economic heap, driven in large by Americans’ willingness to embrace change—even when it hurts.

But the country’s remarkable run could be …

What George Bailey’s Building and Loan Company Can Still Teach Us About Banking

In His Time and Ours, Big Lenders Often Get a Pass, While Small Banks and the Communities They Serve Are Left Vulnerable

by Robert E. Wright | December 6, 2018

The bank run scene in It’s a Wonderful Life always makes me cry real tears. If you care about America, you should love the scene too—and not just because it …

It Took Six Major Depressions and a Lot of Out-of-Work Americans to Create a National Unemployment Count

What the Monthly Reports Measure, What They Miss, and How They Were Established

What Happened to Digital Contact Tracing’s Summer of Potential?

I Saw the Challenges of Harnessing Digital Data for Public Health up Close During the Pandemic

The Autism Job Club

Everyone Today Needs a Job Network. Especially Those On the Spectrum.

Does California Need Local School Boards?

A San Francisco Recall Reveals a Dysfunctional System Failing Students—And the Useless Scapegoating of Powerless Officials

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