California's economy will pick up somewhat in 2011, forecasts say

The state will add jobs and unemployment will drop but still exceed the nation's jobless rate, economists at UCLA and Chapman University predict. But the housing market will continue to struggle.

By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times
December 7, 2010, 1:00 a.m.

The state is still stuck with a stubbornly high unemployment rate and few job openings, but things may be looking up for California in the year ahead.

That's the conclusion of two forecasts released this week by UCLA and Chapman University in Orange. Both predict that California's economy will expand at a faster pace than the nation's, thanks in part to improvement in global trade and the technology sector.

"The growth sectors in manufacturing are computers and electronics, medical devices and aerospace components," said Jerry Nickelsburg, senior economist of the UCLA Anderson Forecast. "Those are proportionally California export items."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-1 ... 6435.story