According to the “Productivity by State 2025” report recently published by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state of California was positioned last year as one of the main drivers of productivity in the country.

The analysis detailed that the list was topped by the District of Columbia with 5.2% and Arizona with 4.4%, and due to increased productivity in private non-agricultural businesses, California placed it in third place with 4.2%.

Although in recent years large companies such as Chevron, Charles Schwab, Oracle, SpaceX and Tesla have abandoned California, the increase in “the state's labor productivity in 2025 contributed to almost a third of the 1.8% increase nationally,” the report highlighted, also indicating that the entity represents 14% of national production, so its profits have had a strong impact throughout the country.

Despite the withdrawal of many companies, by the end of last year there were about 18 million non-agricultural workers in California, distributed among 2 million dedicated to construction and manufacturing and 16 million in services, retail, transportation, restaurants, hospitality and medical care, according to data from the Department of Employment Development; and although the workers produced more, they did so in just a few working hours.

The data suggests that the way the entity works is much smarter, since the number of hours decreased in 2025 compared to before the pandemic. In addition, “contributions to national labor productivity” exceed those of New York or Texas, so California also becomes a more influential state.