But something major was missing: the many job creators and residents who were forced to flee the state over the past 15 months that were marked by lockdowns, school closures, and onerous restrictions that frequently left businesses reeling and shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to comply.
Among them were innovators like Elon Musk, who relocated to Texas; David Blumberg, founder of Blumberg Capital, who moved to Florida; conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who took his family to Florida and his media business, The Daily Wire, to Nashville; Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which is now in Texas; and software company Palantir, which now calls Colorado home. Watch our video on Facebook. Click here.
While many state economies are back, or close, to normal, California’s economy still lags far behind. Its unemployment rate of 8.3% is better than only that of Hawaii, and a far cry from the states with the lowest unemployment rate of 2.8%.
Recently, The Center Square reported just how much the state is losing from the out migration, something documented in detail in CPC’s California Book of Exoduses. Between 2017 and 2018, California lost 165,355 net tax filers and dependents, more than any other state. Combined, the income of those former residents totals $8.8 billion that will now be earned elsewhere.