The Golden State isn't So Golden Anymore

State's manufacturing capacity growth ranks last among top 25 populous states over last three years (downloadble charts below)

• California was once the center of the aerospace industry. Now, every major aerospace company is headquartered somewhere else.
• California once had a dozen auto manufacturing plants. Now, it has none.
• California’s manufacturing base has eroded 32% since 2001 – a loss of over 600,000 manufacturing jobs that paid, on average, $20,000 a year more than service jobs.
• The loss of these jobs has cost California nearly $75 billion a year in lost wages and $5 billion annually in lost tax revenue – money that once helped pay for schools infrastructure and other services.
• California’s unemployment rate is one of America’s highest.
• China built its Shanghai maglev train in 30 months. California has spent more than 20 years trying to build a high-speed train -- and still hasn’t turned one shovelful of dirt.
• The steel used to construct the new span of the Bay Bridge was made—in China.
• California was once home to financial giants such as Bank of America, Security Pacific and First Interstate. All have moved their headquarters to other states.

Let's Put California Back in Business

To bring new life to California’s economy, we don’t need to dismantle environmental, worker or consumer protections. But we do need to improve our regulatory system so it’s lean, efficient, predictable and accountable, with common sense rules that are fairly applied.


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