University of the Pacific's Business Forecasting Center predicts California's economy will grow by about two percent this year and three percent next year; reaching pre-recession employment levels by 2015. Jeff Michael heads up the Center. He says improvement won't come that quickly in the Central Valley:
Michael: "We're looking at 2016-2017 before we reach those thresholds, so we've got a long way to go."
Michael says that's partly because the size of the employment hole in places like Stockton and Sacramento was bigger. But Michael says in Stockton, some big projects may help the area catch up, including a new Amazon fulfillment center and a new corrections health care facility:
Michael: "You know, one of the challenges for the city of Stockton as it deals with bankruptcy and some of its municipal problems right now, is can they attract some of these people coming to the region for new jobs to sort of live in the city and give it a boost."
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