California's Problems in a Nutshell

These statistics, compiled from the California Employment Development Department, the Franchise Tax Board and the Department of Finance, are damning, but they tell the story of what's wrong in California:

California Unemployment Rate – 12.3%
Source: California Employment Development Department

Californians Currently Listed as Unemployed- 2.24 Million

Source: California Employment Development Department

Private Sector Jobs Lost in California Since 2005- 1,298,700
Source: California Employment Development Department

State Government Jobs Added Since 2005- 38,100
Source: California Employment Development Department

Average California Private Sector Job Salary- $55,000
Source: California Employment Development Department

Average State Taxes Paid by Each Private Sector Employee- $3,600
Source: Franchise Tax Board / Board of Equalization

Average Cost to Taxpayers to Pay Salary and Benefits for Each California Government Job-$90,000
Source: California Department of Finance

Number of Private Sector Jobs it Takes to Support One Government Job- 25
Source: Franchise Tax Board / Board of Equalization

Source: Republican Caucus, California Assembly. For the grisly details, read this dismal story.

If a similar analysis were done for the federal government, it would show the same pattern: millions of jobs lost in the private sector, and hundreds of thousands added in the federal government, at all levels. Here is an instructive graph that compares unemployment trends in the current recession with all previous recessions since World War II (click to enlarge):

And here is a graph that shows the trend in federal government jobs from 1990 to 2010 (the red peaks show the impact of census hiring every ten years; the black line is the trend without those impacts -- click to enlarge):

As always, the bureaucrats take care of their own, even as the ship itself sinks.