California has likely been crying the blues in recent years, seeing its once-prized tech sector begin to disappear before its very eyes amid high levels of crime and homelessness and the burdensome regulatory framework officials put in place.
Most recently, Elon Musk announced he would be uprooting SpaceX and X headquarters from California and setting up shop in Texas, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
He cited a number of left-wing policies state authorities have implemented as the impetus behind the relocation. SpaceX and X will be joining Tesla in the Lone Star State.
Musk has not been alone in seeing greater opportunity and freedom in Texas compared to California. A slew of companies have made the move in recent years, and those left behind are struggling to stay above water.
“Nearly a third of small businesses feel they’re stuck in Hotel California, where they can check out anytime they like, but they can never leave,” Andrew Crapuchettes, CEO of RedBalloon said to Fox Business back in March. “California used to be the engine of small businesses in America, but those still California dreaming are finding it’s become a nightmare — 67% want to escape.”
Business owners who spoke with RedBalloon said that crime, taxes, and left-wing policies were the driving factors behind their desire to leave the Golden State. Just 13% of small businesses surveyed by RedBalloon were happy in California. The report shows that while many businesses want to leave, the financial difficulty of making a move has left them trapped in the state.
Here’s some of what CalMatters recently reported on the devastating impact of companies fleeing the state:
Gains in public-sector and other jobs largely supported by public money have cloaked a dismal California labor market, which has seen a big decline of private-industry jobs since their post-pandemic peak, a new analysis shows.
The state Legislative Analyst’s Office looked at employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics through April, and concluded that private-sector industries in California have lost a total of 340,000 jobs since reaching their peak a couple of years ago.
The tech and finance industries led those losses. Jobs in the information sector — whose major employers include household names such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Disney — have declined 16% since their peak. There were more than 531,000 such jobs in July 2022, but 98,000 of those have gone away. Employment in the financial sector peaked at 500,000 jobs in December 2021, but it has lost 43,000 jobs, or 8%, since then.