California Council Looks to Create Jobs Across State

The state of California has launched the California Jobs First Council, a coalition that looks to create thousands of jobs across all regions of the state.

Describing the council as “the first of its kind,” a statement from California Gov. Newsom’s office outlines the group’s mission and details the state’s new operational plan “focused on streamlining the state’s economic and workforce development programs to create more jobs, faster.”

Charged with coordinating the development of a statewide industrial strategy that includes a statewide economic snapshot and identification of priority sectors, the council will also develop a statewide projects portfolio, a business expansion, attraction and retention strategy, and a workforce development strategy, according to Gov. Newsom’s statement.

The collective consists of individuals from a number of California state entities, acting on behalf of various sectors and interests, such as the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, the California Natural Resources Agency, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the California Health and Human Services Agency, and the state’s Public Utilities Commission.

The council is “an integral component of California’s broader strategy to prepare students and workers for high-paying careers,” according to Gov. Newsom’s office. The coalition will work in concert with the state’s Council for Career Education and in line with the Governor’s 2023 executive order directing the creation of a Master Plan for Career Education, designed to “ensure that Californians have career pathways, develop the skills and find even more opportunities to be full beneficiaries of our state’s economy.”

That plan is geared primarily toward aligning and simplifying the K-12, university and workforce systems in California, to support greater access to career education and jobs for all Californians, according to Gov. Newsom’s office. Along with the Master Plan for Career Education, the state’s Jobs First Operational Plan “will highlight the ways in which workforce development can and should be a tool used by the state and the regional Job First Collaboratives to help Californians, particularly the most disinvested communities, in meeting the specific skillset needs of the state’s and our regions’ priority industry sectors.”

The California Jobs First Council’s formation comes more than two years after Gov. Newsom launched the $600 million Regional Investment Initiative, intended to create quality, accessible jobs “and help build resilience to the effects of climate change and other global disruptions impacting the state’s diverse regional economies.”

That investment supported the creation of Jobs First Collaboratives in each of California’s 13 regions, representing community partners including labor, business, local government, education, environmental justice and community organizations, for example. Along with introducing the California Jobs First Council, Gov. Newsom also introduced that the state has awarded $14 million to reach of the 13 Jobs First Collaboratives to invest in sector-specific pre-development activities.

“California has created more opportunities, more jobs and more businesses than any other state, but we need to ensure that we’re all moving forward together,” said Gov. Newsom, in a statement. “Through this new council and these investments, we’re aligning all of our economic resources to create more jobs, faster for Californians in every community.”