Kevin Kiley: “a new report titled: ``California's Economic Performance Review 2025'' paints an absolutely alarming picture of our…”

“a new report titled: ``California's Economic Performance Review 2025'' paints an absolutely alarming picture of our State's current economic performance. Just to give you a few of the highlights, or really lowlights, Mr. Speaker, California right now has the highest unemployment rate in the Nation at 5.5 percent with over 1 million unemployed workers. There were 181,700 private-sector jobs lost in 2025 and 432,900 private-sector jobs lost in the last 3 years. Meanwhile, almost all of the actual job growth has come from government. There are now 1.9 unemployed workers per job opening in California. That is the worst ratio in the country, with layoffs and separations up by 57 percent in 2025. Net business establishments in 2025 were down almost 90 percent since before Governor Newsom took office, and almost all of the new firms that were rated were sole proprietorships with almost no employees. California, meanwhile, has the highest cost of living of any State, with 6 of the 10 most expensive metropolitan areas in the country. Electricity rates in our State are nearly double the rest of the country for homes and almost triple for industry. We also, of course, have the highest gas prices by far in the country. California has the highest poverty rate in the Nation at 16.4 percent. California had 1.9 million residents lost to other States over the last 7 years, and that includes 409,000 workers lost in job-to-job migration over the last 5 years.”