The first California Economic Summit was an unprecedented gathering of leaders focused on working together to put California’s economy on a sustainable path for growth.
There were five objectives: Streamlining regulations, Investing in our state’s infrastructure, Supporting Innovation, Access to Capital and Preparing a skilled workforce.
California’s jobs outlook has been improving. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an unemployment rate of 10.7% in July, with 11 straight months of month-to-month job growth, the highest in the country.
Several industries added jobs including trade, transportation, construction and leisure and hospitality.
Despite these gains, California’s unemployment rate is the third highest in the country, only behind Nevada and Rhode Island.
Californians are still hurting—they’re suffering because of many of them are still out of work.
Therein lays the problem. While thousands remain unemployed, there is a serious and growing shortage of skilled workers in major regional industry sectors throughout the state.
Action teams are working hard to close that gap by prioritizing workforce-training resources to support the growth of major regional industry sectors. This includes creating partnerships with local workforce investment boards, community colleges, businesses and labor to prepare people for high demand jobs. You can track the team’s progress.
National Career Fairs is hosting jobs fairs throughout the state, in the coming months, giving job seekers an opportunity to meet face to face with employers and college representatives.
Various colleges sound off about those high demand jobs and their role in preparing a skilled workforce.
