The AP (5/4, Cooper) reported that, with a GDP of over $2.7 trillion, “California’s economy has surpassed that of the United Kingdom to become the world’s fifth largest.” The AP wrote that newly-released data “demonstrate the sheer immensity of California’s economy, home to nearly 40 million people, a thriving technology sector in Silicon Valley, the world’s entertainment capital in Hollywood and the nation’s salad bowl in the Central Valley agricultural heartland. It also reflects a substantial turnaround since the Great Recession.”
California State University Channel Islands Economics Professor Sung Won Sohn is quoted saying, “We have the entrepreneurial spirit in the state, and that attracts a lot of talent and money. And that’s why, despite high taxes and cumbersome government regulations, more people are coming into the state to join the parade.” Apart from agriculture, “all economic sectors” contributed to the state’s GDP growth, and “financial services and real estate led the pack at $26 billion in growth, followed by the information sector, which includes many technology companies, at $20 billion,” while “manufacturing was up $10 billion.”
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