That it isn’t a bigger story is further direct confirmation that the complacent, union-centric, anti-free market worldview of the Sacramento political establishment pretty much sets the tone for what’s covered by the Sacramento media establishment. The only places one routinely sees commentary pointing out how terrible the state’s overall economy is? Pro-free-market newspaper editorial pages in San Diego and Orange County.

Maybe now that an organ of the left is pointing out how bad joblessness is in California, the issue will get some attention.

Low-wage, middle-wage workers hurting badly

OK, of course not, that’s not how Sacramento works. That’s reflected by the fact that the story about the new analysis is on the website of a Los Angeles area NPR affiliate — not in the Times or Bee.

“A report by the California Budget Project says the addition of 750,00 jobs over the past three years has still left much of the state in double-digit unemployment.

“‘California still has a job market in which too many workers can’t obtain full-time jobs that pay a good wage,’ said Luke Reidenbach, policy analyst with the non-partisan CBP and the report’s author. ‘California’s emerging recovery is not providing the mix of jobs needed for a robust economic rebound that benefits the full range of workers and their families.’

“Among the group’s findings: The share of unemployed Californians who have been seeking work for six months or longer is down only slightly from a record high, and stands at 43 percent. The report also found men have fared better than women. During the past three years of overall job growth, employment among prime-working-age men – ages 25 to 54 – has increased, as it dropped slightly for women in the same age group.”

“Other numbers: 1.3 million workers, or eight percent of all employed Californians can only find part-time jobs; 34 out of 58 counties have an average unemployment rate in the double digits. The lowest county unemployment rate is 5.1 percent in Marin County, and the highest is 24.5 percent in Imperial County.

“Due to recent gains, high-wage workers — those at the 80th percentile of California’s earnings distribution — have seen inflation-adjusted hourly earnings nearly return to their 2006 level. Meanwhile, inflation-adjusted wages of low-wage workers (those at the 20th percentile) and mid-wage workers (with earnings exactly in the middle of the distribution) have failed to catch up to pre-recession levels.”

Don’t hold your breath on seeing much of this in California’s mainstream media. The narrative is established: Jerry Brown has the Golden State on the rebound.

Snort. Not if you’re among the one in five California adults who want full-time work but can’t find it.

By Chris Reed

In September 2008, in his last major speech to the California Legislature, soon-to-be congressman Tom McClintock said the state government had turned the corner, and not in a good way.

“I believe we have now also passed the point where conventional budget reductions can restore our state’s finances. I believe we have now reached the terminal stage of a bureaucratic state where our bureaucracies have become so large and so tangled that they can no longer perform basic functions.”

Has the state’s economy also reached the “terminal stage” because of excessive taxes and regulations? Writing at NewGeography.com, Robert J. Cristiano, a California businessman and academic who has moved to Texas for tax reasons, believes that it has:

“The number 1 topic of conversation amongst the despised 1% in California today is when you are leaving California or whether you can leave. Property owners who cannot move their apartment building or office complexes can move their homes and change their residency. On a flight from Austin, Texas to Orange County last week, I sat next to the owner of a substantial manufacturing business whose plant is in the inland southern California community of Ontario. He lives in Austin, flies in on Monday and home on Thursday. He spends less than 180 days a year in California. His savings in state income taxes more than pays for his airfare, hotel and rental car expenses. His home and gas and energy all cost less in Texas. More significantly, he will not expand his plant in California and intends to move his plant and people to Texas over the next five years. …

“So many of the 1% are quietly leaving. The exodus has already begun. Spectrum Location Solutions reported that 254 companies left California in 2011. Despite claims of an upturn, a press release by the State Controller’s office last week revealed tax revenues from both personal income taxes and corporate taxes fell during the month of this November. Revenue from personal income dropped 19 percent below projections while corporate tax revenue was down a whopping 213.4 percent. Such declines will continue unabated for years to come as the California brain drain proceeds.

“When a government becomes a one-party state, nothing can stop the utopians and zealots of either party. In California, there’s no brake on progressives imposing its vision of Blue Utopia on its people. California may have clean water, clean air and green energy but at the expense of its people, prosperity and fiscal health.”

Read Cristiano’s entire lament about what California has become here.