#  Small Businesses Hit Hard in California

     Details    Emily Hoeven   ![logo](https://www.citywatchla.com//templates/ja_teline_v/images/logo.png)         January 24 2022      [  ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2022/007n.png)    ](https://www.citywatchla.com/state-watch/23637-small-businesses-hit-hard)

  [STATE WATCH](https://www.citywatchla.com/state-watch)   - [  Previous Article **Is Public Office the Best Place to Do Public Service?** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23681:is-public-office-the-best-place-to-do-public-service&catid=385)
- [  Next Article **Report: Restoring The California Dream** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23634:report-restoring-the-california-dream&catid=385)

  ###### Typography

- [](# "Smaller Font")  ****Smaller** **Small** **Medium** **Big** **Bigger****  [](# "Bigger Font")
- [](# "Previous Font Style")  ****Default** **Helvetica** **Segoe** **Georgia** **Times****  [](# "Next Font Style")

- [ Reading Mode](# "Reading Mode")

> <a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a><a class="a2a_button_print"></a>[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
>
>  [Comments](#disqus_thread)

>
>
>
> CALIFORNIA MATTERS - The single biggest challenge facing California small businesses: Labor shortages.

 A whopping 98% of small business owners in the Golden State say that difficulty hiring is affecting their bottom line, according to [a survey released this morning](https://calmatters.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=3dca637dd8&e=be99ddd110) by Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Business Voices. That’s far more than the 81% who pinpoint inflation, the 77% who cite supply chain issues and the 70% who identify the surge in COVID-19 cases as drags on their revenue.

The news comes as California’s economy shows glimmers of improvement: The unemployment rate fell to 6.5% in December from a revised rate of 7% in November as employers added 50,700 jobs, [the state Employment Development Department reported Friday](https://calmatters.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=190e0f93b6&e=be99ddd110). That accounts for more than a quarter of the nation’s overall job gains that month, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom [to issue a statement](https://calmatters.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=df2bbfd8b4&e=be99ddd110) praising California’s “outsized” role in job creation.

But the figures obscure what Michael Bernick, a former EDD director and attorney for law firm Duane Morris, calls a “major storyline” in California: “the disappearing workforce.”

- Bernick**:** “The number of Californians listed as employed — in payroll jobs or as independent contractors — did increase over the month by 116,900 persons. However, it remains 919,800 workers below the number of workers employed in California in January 2020, just before the pandemic.”

The state seems aware that workers are disappearing. Newsom’s [recent budget blueprint](https://calmatters.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=eab6e2a3f5&e=be99ddd110) proposes new workforce development programs on top of the more than 20 approved in last year’s budget. But the state Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal analyst raised questions about that approach [in a presentation last week to the Senate budget committee](https://calmatters.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=1d322f0035&e=be99ddd110): “Can so many efforts be effectively launched at once? What are the specific problems the state aims to solve with all these efforts?”

Meanwhile, omicron continues to [wreak havoc on California’s workforce](https://calmatters.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=556f6f956f&e=be99ddd110). Some long-term care facilities, which house some of the state’s most vulnerable residents, are so short-staffed that they’re relying on COVID-positive employees to care for patients, [CalMatters’ Kristen Hwang reports](https://calmatters.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=161e37d5bc&e=be99ddd110). Although COVID has exacerbated nursing homes’ staffing shortages, it didn’t create them.

- **[Claire Enright, a workforce specialist at the California Association of Health Facilities](https://calmatters.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=7c8669dbb3&e=be99ddd110):** “I’ve been a nurse in long-term care for over 25 years, and there’s never been a time where we haven’t had a ‘help wanted’ sign out in some form.”

The problem is so acute that the federal government on Friday [devoted $103 million](https://calmatters.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=44bc2db4ff&e=be99ddd110) to improving retention of health care workers through programs that combat burnout and promote wellness and mental health. [Four California providers](https://calmatters.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=3de54ed17a&e=be99ddd110) will receive a combined $8.7 million.

*(Emily Hoeven writes the daily WhatMatters newsletter for CalMatters. Her reporting, essays, and opinion columns have been published in San Francisco Weekly, the Deseret News, the San Francisco Business Times, the Flathead Beacon, the Daily Pennsylvanian, and the Mercury News.)*

  - [  Previous Article **Is Public Office the Best Place to Do Public Service?** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23681:is-public-office-the-best-place-to-do-public-service&catid=385)
- [  Next Article **Report: Restoring The California Dream** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23634:report-restoring-the-california-dream&catid=385)
<div data-id="1" 
	class="eb-inst eb-hide eb-emailform eb-1 eboxContentLocker"
	data-options='{"trigger":"onPageLoad","trigger_selector":"","delay":3000,"early_trigger":true,"scroll_depth":"percentage","scroll_depth_value":80,"firing_frequency":1,"reverse_scroll_close":true,"threshold":0,"close_out_viewport":false,"exit_timer":1000,"idle_time":10000,"close_on_esc":false,"animation_open":"slideInDown","animation_close":"fadeOutDown","animation_duration":400,"disable_page_scroll":true,"test_mode":false,"debug":false,"ga_tracking":true,"ga_tracking_id":"G-P16BQ7X1SW","ga_tracking_event_category":"EngageBox","ga_tracking_event_label":"Box #1 - Global Email Signup Form","auto_focus":false}'
	data-type='popup'
	>

	<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-outside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>
	<div class="eb-dialog eb-formVer" role="dialog" aria-modal="true" id="dialog1" aria-label="dialog1">
		
		<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-inside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>	
		<div class="eb-container">
						<div class="eb-content">
				
<form action="https://citywatchla.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=34d69f33624fd058ee9b56516&amp;id=4bfa422f51&amp;f_id=00d6c2e1f0" class="eb" method="post" id="mcform-1" name="mcform-1" target="_blank">
			<div class="eb-form-header"><p><img src="/images/2023/06/be-a-city-watcher.png" alt="be a city watcher" width="350" height="97" loading="lazy" data-path="local-images:/2023/06/be-a-city-watcher.png"></p>
<p>Sign up to receive our special e-news blasts on Monday and Thursday evenings!</p></div>
	
					<div class="eb-field-row">

			
			
			
			<input class="eb-input" type="email" name="EMAIL"  placeholder="Email address"  id="EMAIL" value="" required>

			
		</div>
										
	<div class="eb-footer">
    	<button class="eb-btn" type="submit" name="subscribe" style="background-color:rgba(93, 183, 93, 1);color:rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">
    		Sign up    	</button>
    </div>
</form>			</div>
		</div>
	</div>	
</div>
<div data-id="3" 
	class="eb-inst eb-hide eb-yesno eb-3 "
	data-options='{"trigger":"onScrollDepth","trigger_selector":"","delay":0,"early_trigger":false,"scroll_depth":"percentage","scroll_depth_value":80,"firing_frequency":2,"reverse_scroll_close":false,"threshold":0,"close_out_viewport":false,"exit_timer":1000,"idle_time":1000,"close_on_esc":false,"animation_open":"fadeInUp","animation_close":"fadeOut","animation_duration":300,"disable_page_scroll":false,"test_mode":false,"debug":false,"ga_tracking":true,"ga_tracking_id":"G-P16BQ7X1SW","ga_tracking_event_category":"EngageBox","ga_tracking_event_label":"Box #3 - Yes \/ No Donation Popup Box","auto_focus":false}'
	data-type='popup'
	>

	<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-outside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>
	<div class="eb-dialog " role="dialog" aria-modal="true" id="dialog3" aria-label="dialog3">
		
		<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-inside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>	
		<div class="eb-container">
						<div class="eb-content">
				
<div class="ebox-yes-no">
	<div class="ebox-yn-text">
		
		
		<div class="ebox-yn-headline" style="font-size:22px;color:#888888">
			<p>If you only give once a month, would you consider giving to CityWatch?</p>
<p>Your support fuels our mission to promote and facilitate civic engagement and neighborhood empowerment, and to hold area government and its politicians accountable.</p>
<p>Would you like to help? Even if you can only give $5, it will make a difference.</p>		</div>
			</div>
	
	<div class="ebox-ys-buttons" style="font-size: 16px;">
		
<a
					data-ebox-prevent="0"
		data-ebox-cmd="close"
				target="_self"
		href="https://www.citywatchla.com/donate"
		rel="noopener"
	
	
	
	
	class="ebox-ys-btn"
	style="background-color:#2ec664;color:#ffffff;min-width:100px">
	Yes
	</a>
<a
	
	
			data-ebox-cmd="close"
		href="#"
	
	
	class="ebox-ys-btn"
	style="background-color:#ef2345;color:#ffffff;min-width:100px">
	Not Right Now
	</a>	</div>

	</div>			</div>
		</div>
	</div>	
</div>