Things to be thankful for: More exports

California exports - including these shipments of rice to Asia - have been on a year-over-year rise for nearly two years.

Written by
Dean Calbreath
8:51 a.m., Nov. 24, 2011
Updated 9:45 a.m.

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As the holiday shopping season begins, Americans are once again pawing through shelves of electronics, toys and clothing imported from China, Mexico and Thailand.

But those imports disguise a trend that could help bolster the economic recovery: U.S. exports are on the rise, especially from tech-dominated California.

As of September - the latest month for comprehensive trade data - California exports have been climbing on a year-to-year basis for 23 months in a row.

"Adjusting for inflation, we are on a pace to see the best year ever for California exports," said Jock O'Connell, international trade adviser for Beacon Economics in Los Angeles.

And that rise in exports translates into more growth for California, helping fuel the state's 1.8 percent job growth over the past year, as well as a rise in taxable sales and a drop in industrial vacancies, said Christopher Thornberg, one of Beacon's founding partners.

California exports totaled $13.5 billion in September, 9.5 percent higher than the $12.3 billion reported in September 2010, according to Beacon's analysis of U.S. Commerce Department data released earlier this month.

Exports are growing throughout the rest of the nation as well. In the latest report on the gross domestic product released on Wednesday, the Commerce Department calculated that exports accounted for 0.5 percentage points of growth in the third quarter - or a fourth of the nation's growth - up from a previous estimate of 0.2 percentage points.

With Europe on the verge of a double-dip recession and China slowing down, that growth rate will probably not last very long, the economists say. But Beacon does not expect the exports to start falling.

"There will be growth in California exports, but just not at the pace we might prefer," O'Connell said.

Click HERE for Beacon's report on the state's trade figures. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011 ... more-jobs/

And there are other things in the economy to be thankful about. To see them, you can click on the links below:

•More jobs http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011 ... more-jobs/

•Growing incomes https://www.signonsandiego.com/news/201 ... ore-money/

•Better mood https://www.signonsandiego.com/news/201 ... tter-mood/

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011 ... e-exports/