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California  + Finance  | 

UCLA Anderson: California Faces “Two-Speed Recovery”

UCLA Anderson’s latest economic forecast doesn’t anticipate either an immediate downturn or an immediate resurgence for either California or the U.S. Instead, “both the nation and the state are poised to muddle through early 2026 before experiencing stronger growth in 2026 and 2027,” UCLA Anderson said Wednesday.

For California in particular, the year ahead will be marked by what UCLA Anderson termed “a two-speed recovery,” with different sectors of the economy running at different speeds. While the state continues to outpace the nation in high-productivity sectors such as AI, aerospace and advanced manufacturing, other segments such as construction, nondurable goods manufacturing, retail, and leisure and hospitality face “significant headwinds,” according to the December 2025 UCLA Anderson Forecast.

The forecast anticipates noticeable improvement coming in 2027 for metrics such as unemployment, employment growth, non-farm payroll jobs, real personal income growth and residential permits.

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

  • ◦Economy