Many of you know I’m a proud (almost-native) Detroiter. I
talk about my hometown all the time, especially my love for the Tigers and Wolverines
football. But I have lived in California since 1974 and moved to Butte County
in 1976. I’ve been here ever since. I think Chico is a fantastic place; a great
place to raise a family and a marvelous place to grow a business.
Yet, some of my friends think California’s best days are
behind us. My good buddy, Professor Bill McGowan has insisted for years that
our entrepreneurship students should consider Texas. Texas! It killed me and
yet Bill has argued a good case. After all Texas has led the nation in job
creation throughout much of the past decade. Until now!
I was very pleased to read in a recent article in Bloomberg Businessweek that over the
past twelve months California has led the nation in job creation. According to the
article:
California added 365,100 nonfarm
jobs in the year ending in July, a 2.6 percent increase and the state’s
largest 12-month gain since 2000. That beats every other state, including
Texas, which added 222,500 jobs over the past year.
Take that McGowan! Seriously, although these are challenging
times for our state, we still have an unemployment rate of 10.7% (Texas, by the
way, is at 7.2%) so we have a lot of work to do -- especially when it comes to creating new ventures. But I’m convinced California and Chico in particular are prime locales to start a business.
In the coming months, keep your eyes on this blog, I think
you’ll be impressed with what we’re doing in Chico to help promote new
business.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-06/californias-job-growth-outpaces-texass
