Flynn...
http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article195571634.html
First sentence: "Riding a wave of seasonal hiring and robust employment in nearly all major industry sectors, California’s unemployment rate plunged to a record low 4.3 percent in December."
Story dated January 19, 2018
Ok so I have close ties to this industry, having worked in California's aerospace industry for a long time, and I can tell you...it's currently booming. It just isn't the aircraft stuff of yore, it is these new space companies. There's a reason SpaceX chose here (it's the expertise in the area), and its sudden rise to prominence has boosted a lot of the traditional aerospace vendors. Desire for space down in the El Segundo area (the hub of So Cal's aerospace region) is at a premium (case in point:
https://urbanize.la/post/boeing-expands-its-el-segundo-complex). The "entire aircraft industry" you speak of was because all the traditional aircraft companies consolidated, as did the defense companies, so the industry itself was getting smaller. Nobody really predicted the current space boom ten years ago, there was a lot of "woe is me" attitude at the time (personally, I thought it was a good thing defense companies were shrinking) but it certainly is making its way back in a big way.
So I'm confused about this statement, because Tesla is obviously the game-changer here, and it means something that they are California based. As is Lucid Motors (
http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/...cid-motors-moves-into-snazzy-new-headquarters) and half a dozen wannabe electric car companies (LeEco, yada yada). As is Ford's new self-driving unit (
http://driving.ca/ford/auto-news/ne...ley-staff-dedicated-to-autonomous-car-testing), Hyundai's recently opened North American headquarters (
https://www.ocregister.com/2013/06/07/hyundais-new-oc-headquarters-changes-citys-skyline/). I think the only two companies you are referring to are Nissan (which moved over ten years ago) and Toyota. But the "design studios" you speak of are not nothing, they are the most important thing. Design is central. Administration, advertising, upper management and their bureaucratic bloat, that can be done anywhere. The most important talent still concentrates itself in California, funnily enough (insider baseball, I've been told Toyota's R&D is moving to Michigan).
This doesn't make sense. The biggest growth in Hollywood (which is growing through the biggest building boom I've ever seen in my lifetime, i.e.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/b...nd-paramount-plan-bold-studio-expansions.html) is coming mainly from the newcomers, who don't actually specialize in film (Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Amazon...everyone knows the names) and aren't yet protected because they weren't established enough to do so. Simply put, this industry is doing so well because television shows employ more people than feature films, which means there's not enough money to relocate shoots to accomodate such large staffs. Production has had to stay here, and as the number of shows has grown, so has the industry. There is a very valuable and sought after tax credit, but it in no way can cover every production inside the state, and yet many shows are still staying put.
But the most important sign that a city (by extension state) is doing well...the artists are moving here.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/22/arts/design/hammer-museum-los-angeles-philanthropy.html. It's the Richard Florida thesis: the most important signifier of a post-industrial city's economic potential and strength is its desirability to the "creative class" because they are the ones that drive innovation and critical thought. That's why having 'design studios' staying put is such a desirable thing.
