By Melissa Murphy, The Reporter, Vacaville
Posted:
03/07/15, 7:46 PM PST |
Solano County
has moved out of recovering from the recession into a state of expanding its
economic base, according to the 2014 Index of Economic and Community Progress.
The index
report prepared by Robert Eyler, a principal at Economic Forensics and
Analytics in Petaluma, will be presented to the Solano County Board of
Supervisors Tuesday. Additionally, Eyler will bring the report forward during a
monthly gathering of the Solano Economic Development Corporation at 8 a.m.
Friday at the Hilton Garden Inn in Fairfield.
The Index
tracks key economic and community indicators that are shaping the local
economy. The Index is part of a project that was launched in 2007 with an aim
to obtain more fact-based information to guide efforts to expand the long-term
viability of the county’s economy.
The 2014 Index
set out to answer the question, “How is Solano County doing economically?”
In a report to
the board, staff noted that the Index shows that “Solano County is becoming
more diversified in its number of employers/economic base with the private
sector leading the way into this long-awaited expansion.”
The full Index
is available online at www.solanocounty.com/economicindex.
The “key
highlights” from the Index, according to the report, note the county’s changing
economy.
In 2014, Solano
expanded with 2,300 new jobs, a growth of 1.8 percent and the county’s
seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate is at 6.9 percent as it begins 2015.
Additionally,
the Index shows that “with a growing economy and reduced government resources,
the private sector is becoming more of an engine for growth” in the county.
All standards
of living measures are rising in the 2013 data and suggest that 2014 and 2015
also will be years of rising living standards for the county.
While base
employment fell a bit in 2014, locally serving jobs grew, a “sign of economic
expansion,” according to the Index.
Solano
continues to change.
The Index
reports that the population grew by 4,844 people in 2014, a growth of 1.15
percent, most of the growth was from places within the United States instead of
foreign migration, a first since 2009.
Even though the
Index shows that the county’s population continues to get older, it also is
forecasted that Solano and Sacramento counties will be the two fastest growing
counties in Solano’s region between 2014 and 2060.
Other
highlights include a rise in graduation rates and more students are ready for
University of California and California State University than any school year
since 2007-08.
Meanwhile,
housing prices have continued their recovery and government revenue from
property and sales taxes continued to rise in 2014.
The Solano
County Board of Supervisors meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the County Government
Center, 675 Texas St., Fairfield.
