Normally, I do a monthly segment after the federal jobs report drops, but the government shutdown meant we didn't get those numbers for the past few months. My guest, Daniel McDonald, is an economics professor at Cal State San Bernardino. In a recent post to his Substack, Inland Empire Economic Intelligence, he used a different data set to gauge how the IE’s job market is faring. McDonald joins me today to discuss his findings.

Today on Economics IE, we are looking at the Inland Empire's job outlook for 2026 and why the region may be headed for a challenging year. I spoke with Kome Ajise, executive director of the Southern California Association of Governments, and Kevin Kane, who supervises demographics and growth forecasting there.

For 91.9 KVCR News, I'm Madison Aument, and this is Economics IE. Today I'm in the studio with IEGO's executive director, Matt Mena. Welcome, Matt.

Here in the Inland Empire, more than 190,000 people rely on Covered California for their health insurance. But premiums could double for some residents, as enhanced federal tax credits are set to expire. Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar joined Covered California’s Executive Director to discuss the impacts.

The government shutdown has loomed large over many aspects of American life this month. Employment data is no exception. Each month, I speak with Matt Mena from IEGO about the region's job numbers for the month before, but we don't have those numbers for September. So MENA delves into why and other ways IEGO is trying to gauge what's going on with the IE’s economy.

This week's rundown of Inland Empire economic news.

For 91.9 KVCR News, I’m Madison Aument. This is Economics I.E. UCLA’s Anderson School of Management released a report last week detailing weaknesses in the U.S. and California economies.

Each month, IEGO, a nonprofit focused on economic growth in the Inland Empire, publishes the IE Labor Market Pulse. The newsletter analyzes monthly employment data to give readers insight into the regional labor market. Today, I’m speaking with Matt Mena, IEGO’s executive director, about last month’s job numbers. Let’s just start by kind of doing a summary of what August job numbers looked like.

For 91.9 KVCR News, I’m Madison Aument, and this is Economics IE. This week, I’m doing a quick roundup of some local economic news... from wildfire lawsuits to workforce trends and gas prices across the Inland Empire. Let’s start with Southern California Edison.

For 91.9 KVCR News, I’m Madison Aument, and this is Economics IE. Today, I’m speaking with Jonathan Lansner, a business columnist with the Southern California News Group, which publishes The Press-Enterprise and The San Bernardino Sun. We discussed a column he published last week analyzing rent prices across Southern California. Let's just start with how you compiled your data on these rental prices.