National Minority Development Enterprise Week: The Minority Business Development Agency has named September 13 to 19, 2020, as National Minority Development Enterprise Week. There will be a number of virtual workshops and events. Details should be available in the coming weeks.
Philanthropic Support for Individuals in Quarantine: Governor Gavin Newsom announced $81.8 million in additional commitments from private and philanthropic partners have been made in support of more resources and services for individuals needing to isolate or quarantine. The philanthropic partnership is led by Kaiser Permanente, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Ballmer Group, The James Irvine Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation, Weingart Foundation, Sierra Health Foundation, Blue Shield of California Foundation, California Health Care Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, The California Endowment and the Skoll Foundation. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/08/10/governor-newsom-announces-81-8-million-in-commitments-to-support-isolation-and-quarantine-efforts-in-communities-disproportionately-impacted-by-covid-19/
The Unemployment Insurance Economy: Fox and Hound published a new article by Michael Bernick on the unemployment insurance economy and the challenges the state faces in addressing COVID-19. https://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2020/08/how-life-narrows-in-the-unemployment-insurance-economy/ Mr. Bernick is the former Director of the California Employment Development Department and current private counsel with the international law firm of Duane Morris LLP.
Export Nation Podcast: The US Commercial Service launched a new podcast series Export Nation. The first episode, Women in Exporting, is now available. https://exportnation.libsyn.com/
Conversation with Export-Import Bank Chair: The Orange County Business Council hosted the President and Chair of US Export-Import Bank, Kimberly Reed. Among other topics, they discussed how the US Export-Import Bank helps businesses by financing the export of goods to foreign markets, including how their Transformational Exports Program can help businesses to compete with Chinese businesses. https://vimeo.com/446586146
Enhance the listing standards of US exchanges to require access to work papers of the principal audit firm for the audit of the listed company or meet a modified related requirement.
Require enhanced and prominent issuer disclosures of the risks of investing in Non-Cooperating Jurisdictions.
Review the risk disclosures of registered funds that have exposure to issuers from Non-Cooperating Jurisdictions.
Encourage or require registered funds that track indexes to perform greater due diligence on an index and its index provider, prior to the selection of the index to implement a particular investment strategy or objective.
Issue guidance to investment advisers with respect to fiduciary obligations when considering investments in Non-Cooperating Jurisdictions, including China.
Women's Global Trade Empowerment Forum: The US International Trade Administration is hosting a Women's Global Trade Empowerment Forum (Forum) focusing on North America trade opportunities. There are four remaining virtual sessions, with the next session scheduled for August 28, 2020. Even if not attending the formal program, the Forum website contains links to many resources. https://www.trade.gov/womensglobaltradeempowermentforum
California Foreign Trade Zones: California has 17 foreign trade zones, supporting business development in Inland California (Bakersfield, Victorville, Fresno and Palm Springs), as well as US border and coastal regions, including San Diego, Calexico, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Port Hueneme, San Francisco, and Eureka. https://enforcement.trade.gov/ftzpage/letters/ftzlist-map.html
International Marketing Reports: The US Commercial Service publishes a number of international market reports that are available to assist small businesses in evaluating and penetrating foreign markets. These reports provide important background when businesses utilize the US Commercial Service’s virtual trade promotion services (https://www.trade.gov/virtual-services), including information on how to identify foreign buyers and partners (https://www.trade.gov/find-buyers-and-partners). Several of these reports, as described by the US Commercial Service, are provided below.
Germany Franchises: Healthy fast-casual dining segment of the franchise market in Germany is growing.
Oman's Renewable Energy: Oman's National Energy Strategy aims to derive 30% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
Poland Photovoltaics: Photovoltaics will experience significant growth in Poland in the upcoming years.
US Trade in Goods and Services: The US Bureau of Economic Analysis released June 2020 data on US international trade in goods and services. In June 2020, the US deficit decreased from $54.8 billion in May (revised) to $50.7 billion in June. The goods deficit decreased $4.0 billion in June to $72.2 billion. The services surplus increased $0.1 billion in June to $21.5 billion. https://www.bea.gov/news/2020/us-international-trade-goods-and-services-june-2020
US Import and Export Price Index: The US Bureau of Labor Statistics released import and export data for June 2020. According to the report, the import price index continued to advance from its low mark in April 2020 (down -6.9% from the prior year) recording a 1.4% increase from May (-3.8% from the prior year). Higher fuel prices (21.9%) accounted for this increase. Prices for foods, feeds, and beverages were slightly down (0.1%), after increasing 2.3% in the previous month. The price index for US exports increased by 1.4% in June, which was the largest 1-month rise since a 1.5% increase in March 2011. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ximpim.pdf
Analysis of CA Trade Activity: Beacon Economics released its monthly analysis of California trade activity. This report analyzes data released by the U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division. https://beaconecon.com/publications/california-trade-report/ “Exports in June continued to be battered by unfavorable tariffs overseas, weaker than normal foreign demand, and by failure in the United States to suppress and contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Although June's numbers are an improvement over May's, Beacon Economics does expect the trade outlook to be plagued by the pandemic into next year."
GOOD NEWS ABOUT SMALL BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FRIENDS
GO-Biz Appointments: Governor Newsom announced the appointment of Sam Nejabat of San Diego as senior business development specialist for the California Business Investment Services Program (CalBIS) at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/08/10/governor-newsom-announces-appointments-8-10-20/ Mr. Nejabat will be joining GO-Biz on Wednesday, August 12, 2020 (today). He will be physically based in San Diego and serve Imperial and San Diego Counties. GO-Biz askes that all requests for CalBIS continue to go through the senior advisor, Kaina Pereira (kaina.pereira@gobiz.ca.gov).
Employment Training Panel Appointments: The Governor has appointed Reginald R. Javier as executive director at the California Employment Training Panel. Javier has served as deputy executive officer at the San Bernardino County Economic Development Agency since 2016. Peter Cooper has been reappointed assistant executive director of the California Employment Training Panel, where he has served in that position since 2012. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/08/12/governor-newsom-announces-appointments-8-12-20/
DATA, SURVEYS, AND ANALYSES
COVID-19 Survey of Low Income Communities: The Federal Reserve System conducted surveys in June and July to better understand the range of challenges facing under-resourced and low-income communities as an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings have been released in a new report, Perspectives from Main Street: The Impact of COVID-19 on Communities and the Entities Serving Them. https://www.frbatlanta.org/community-development/publications/national-covid-19-survey.aspx The Federal Reserve is conducting another round of surveys, which can be accessed here: https://frb.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6GsaPmfAY0sxNXv It takes about 10 minutes to complete.
Disparities Among Unemployed Individuals: Brookings Institute weekly selects a Chart of the Week. This week’s selection is from ProPublica and features an interactive chart displaying national unemployment data, which allows the user to select for race/ethnicity, gender, age, education attainment, and income. There is also an option to look at unemployment over the past six months or the past decade. As an example, the national unemployment rate for June was 11%, but among African American women the rate was 14%, for all individuals earning less than $25,000 it was 24%, and among Latinos with a high school degree 16%. The chart can provide useful information about targeting recovery initiatives. https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus-unemployment/?utm_campaign=Economic%20Studies&utm_medium=email&utm_content=93109485&utm_source=hs_email
State Unemployment Insurance Numbers Released: EDD released unemployment insurance data for California for the week ending August 1. https://www.edd.ca.gov/About_EDD/pdf/news-20-37.pdf Among other information, the weekly UI report stated:
399,335 UI and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims were filed for the week ending August 1.
Between March 14 and August 1, 8 million UI and PAU claims were filed with EDD.
$59.8 billion has been paid to out-of-work Californians since start of pandemic.
National Unemployment Data Released: The US Bureau of Labor Statistics released state unemployment figures for July 2020, showing total US nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.8 million and the unemployment rate fell to 10.2%. Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality (1/3 of total increase), government, retail trade, professional and business services, other services, and health care. The labor force participation rate of 61.4% was substantially similar to June. The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job declined by another 463,000 individuals in June, bringing the total number to 7.7 million individuals (2.8 million higher than in February.) State-level data for July 2020 will be available on or around August 15 and the August 2020 data will be released September 6, 2020.
Household Pulse Survey: The US Census Bureau released results from its weekly (July 16 through July 21) Household Pulse Survey. Among other findings, the US Census reported:
58.6% of adults in California live in households which have experienced a loss in employment income.
14.3% of Californians lived in households where there was either sometimes or often not enough to eat in the previous 7 days.
41.2% of adults in California had delayed getting medical care in the previous 4 weeks.
Second Quarter GDP Estimate: US Bureau of Economic Analysis released its advance estimate of second quarter real gross domestic product (GDP). US GDP decreased at an annual rate of 32.9% in the second quarter of 2020, following a 5.0% decrease in GDP in the first quarter. https://www.bea.gov/news/2020/gross-domestic-product-2nd-quarter-2020-advance-estimate-and-annual-update The next estimate for the second quarter will be released on August 27, 2020.
GRANTS
Zero Emission Trucks: The California Air Resources Board announced they will begin to accept applications on August 18, 2020, for $27 million that is to be used to replace higher polluting trucks with zero-emission vehicles. This funding is part of the $423 million the state received from the Volkswagen (VW) Environmental Mitigation Trust program. In order to be eligible, the existing replacement vehicle must be a freight truck (including drayage), waste hauler, dump truck, or concrete mixer with an engine model year between 1992 and 2012. Private and public entities that own and operate eligible vehicles in the state may apply. https://xappprod.aqmd.gov/vw/ An applicant webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, August 12, 2020, at 10 am http://learn.aqmd.gov/VW_Settlement_Webinar_Registration?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
UPDATES ON COVID-19 RESPONSE AND RECOVERY PROGRAMS
Cheaper Funds for States and Locals: The Federal Reserve Board announced modification to its Municipal Liquidity Facility (MLF) by reducing the interest rate spread on tax-exempt notes by 50 basis points and reducing the amount by which the interest rate for taxable notes is adjusted relative to tax-exempt notes. The MLF offers up to $500 billion in lending to states and municipalities to help manage cash flow stresses caused by the coronavirus pandemic. https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/files/monetary20200811a1.pdf
PPP Closed: The US Small Business Administration has notified lenders that the SBA is no longer accepting new loan applications under the Paycheck Protection Program. Federal law sunset the authority for the PPP on August 8, 2020.
Main Street Lending Program: The Federal Reserve issued its required report to the US Congress on the activities of the Main Street Lending Program. As of August 5, 2020, the total outstanding amount of loans was $76,855,000, backed by $37.5 billion in pledged collateral. “The Board continues to expect that the MSLP will not result in losses to the Federal Reserve.” https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/mself-msnlf-msplf-20200806.pdf
PPP Aggregate-Level Data Update: The US Small Business Administration released program utilization information for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). As of August 8, 5.2 million PPP loans have been approved in the US for a total of $525 billion. In California, 623,360 PPP loans have been approved for a total of $68.6 billion. Link to a PowerPoint displaying data for loan activity through 8/8/2020: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/PPP_Report%20-%202020-08-10.pdf
EIDL Aggregate-Level Data Update: The US Small Business Administration released program utilization information for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). As of August 8, 3.3 million EIDL loans have been approved in the US for a total of $178 billion. In California, 515,280 EIDL loans have been approved for a total of $31.9 billion. Link to a PowerPoint displaying data for loan activity through 08/08/2020: https://www.sba.gov/document/report-covid-19-eidl-loans-report-8-08-20
SBA Weekly Lending Reports: The US Small Business Administration (SBA) released its weekly lending report for the week ending August 7, 2020. Information includes race, ethnicity, gender, and veteran participation in the SBA 7(a), 504, and Advantage Loan Programs. https://www.sba.gov/document/report-2020-weekly-lending-reports
CA Small Business Loans: The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services received updates from the US Small Business Administration on small businesses that are utilizing the two federal disaster loan programs, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program.
US Small Business Administration Disaster Assistance
CA Loans (EIDL) Approved (as of 7/27)
469,484
Dollar Amount of CA Loans (EIDL) Approved (as of 7/27)
$29,697,072,596
CA Loan Advances (EIDL) Approved (as of 7/15)
809,792
Dollar Amount of CA Loan Advances (EIDL) Approved (as of 7/15)
$2,666,662,000
Payment Protection Plan (as of 7/31)
608,970
Payment Protection Plan Approved (total) (as of 7/31)
