STOCKTON – The Center for Business and Policy Research at the University of the Pacific maintains its view that California’s economy will remain strong despite sluggish national growth and a deepening drought.
The center boosted its projection of 2015 job growth to 2.8 percent, up from a 2.3 percent forecast in January They project the state’s unemployment rate will drop below 6 percent by the end of the year and job growth is predicted for 1.8 percent in 2016.
The center predicts that the drought will have a relatively small, .25 percent, reduction of the gross state product. The center expects the drought to continue to have substantial impact on the environment and lifestyles, however.
The Central Valley continues its slow economic recovery as most Central Valley metro areas will average single-digit unemployment in 2015, including Fresno, an area that has only seen an unemployment rate below 10 percent in three of the past 25 years.
The Bay Area continues to have the hottest economy in the state. San Jose is expected to have 5 percent job growth, followed by San Francisco at 4.2 percent job growth.
While it expects the growth to slow some, the Center expects the Bay Area to continue to lead the state in job growth.
Sacramento will continue its slow recovery, finally hitting its pre-recession employment level by the end of 2015. The Capital region will be the last of California’s 10 largest metro areas to achieve that benchmark.
The post Drought still not bringing down the economy appeared first on Central Valley Business Journal.