Let’s hope these California economic dips don’t return in 2026

With holiday gift-giving in the rear window, ’tis the season for returns.

Shoppers will decide which items from their seasonal bounty they’ll cherish and keep, and which they’ll send back or exchange.

Economically speaking, California was gifted with some winning trend lines in 2025. But there were also numerous lumps of coal within the state’s business patterns that are better not seen again.

This is not just a Golden State malaise. National economics don’t look so hot either. And numerous unorthodox policies in the Trump administration’s first year have not paid off, so far.

As a sort of California year-in-review, let’s ponder 11 economic twists that don’t need to return in 2026.

1. Sluggish staffing: The economy is basically about job growth. And while California bosses added workers at a 79,400-a-year pace in the past year, that’s stingy. Think about the 254,000-a-year expansion in 2019-2024. That’s a 69% drop in the number of growth-minded bosses.

2. Growing joblessness: Less hiring meant it was tough to replace a lost job or find a new one. The statewide unemployment rate ran at 5.4% over the past year, up from 4.8% over the previous five years. Not an alarming level, but it’s the wrong direction.

3. Slowing opportunities: Look at who’s starting California operations with employees. There were 173,000 new-business applications of this type in the past year vs. a 188,000-a-year p...