I wrote about Arden-Arcade’s quest for cityhood last week and it was great to hear from residents on both sides of the argument. Thank you for your contribution. For the sake of information and further discussion, I wanted to follow-up with unemployment rates for Arden-Arcade over the past ten years. What do you make of the data below? Data source: EDD.
The truth is that unemployment rates in most cities and CDPs in Sacramento County are really pretty discouraging across-the-board, and they serve as a reminder that we are not “out of the woods” yet (see 10 years of county rates HERE). For reference, as you digest the data below, the unemployment rate in Sacramento County in July 2001 was 4.5% and the unemployment rate for July 2010 was 13.1%. I have not done an exhaustive comparison between Arden-Arcade and other areas as of yet, but I can if readers would be interested.
Date / Unemployment Rate
July 2010 – 13.0%
July 2009 – 11.7%
July 2008 – 7.3%
July 2007 – 5.7%
July 2006 – 5.1%
July 2005 – 5.2%
July 2004 – 5.8%
July 2003 – 6.0%
July 2002 – 5.9%
July 2001 – 4.5%
I don’t know that unemployment rates are a reason for or against cityhood, but I am definitely interested to hear from residents about quality of life issues and even how specific numbers above might correlate to real life in a community. Comments are welcome.
Thanks for your update of the unemployment rate for our Arden Arcade area. It’s always sad to see businesses closing their doors in our neighborhoods and knowing people are out of work.
Last week I issued a letter to my supporters suggesting that one way to help lower the unemployment in Arden Arcade is to support the proposed Cal Expo land swap because this will help create jobs for our neighbors.
I think the Arden-Arcade city will benefit because our new city is right next to the Cal Expo property and we will get the spill over effect of people who work in the buildings and stores erected at the redeveloped Cal Expo site. This will also benefit our business people as the people who work and live at the redeveloped Cal Expo site will shop and dine in our area.
In addition, property values of Arden-Arcade homes and businesses should go up and our new city will befit because of the activities of small business in our city.
As the former Executive Director of the Sacramento County Taxpayers League and a past President of an Economic Development Association I believe this as a win-win situation for Arden-Arcade. The redeveloped Cal Expo property, the new Kings arena and the new Cal Expo complex should create more than 10,000 new jobs in the Sacramento region.
This is also a win-win for the new city of Arden-Arcade by increasing property values and more business for our city businesses. And it’s a win for the taxpayers because not one cent of taxpayer money will go into this project according to all the affected parties’ public statements.
Of course, we must do more – be proactive on the jobs front. Therefore one of the first things I will propose when elected to the new city council is to establish an economic development committee within city government composed of the leading business people within the city of Arden Arcade. This commission will be tasked with making recommendations for how we can establish new business and increase business. I think that we have thoughtful and competent business people who will gladly serve on such a commission without pay and they will come up with workable economic development plans for our new city.
If you have any questions or concerns please let me know. And thanks again for your useful if troubling unemployment data.
Carl Burton, candidate for Arden Arcade City Council 916-485-5741
Thanks for your perspective Carl. You are right that it’s not easy to digest numbers like this. It’s striking to think that these numbers represent very real people who are out of work this very instant. That is sobering and I sure hope in coming months and years we will see the situation improve throughout the region. Best wishes in your race.