CA population slows

Here's a shocker: When the economy is in the toilet, folks stay away. The state's population grew by less than one percent last year, one of the lowest growth rates in history. Since 1900, the only slower years were 1994 to 1996, when California faced the last deep recession. As reported by the Department of Finance, most of the 353,000-person gain was the result of what's known as a "natural increase" - that is, more births than deaths. Net migration, which includes legal and unauthorized foreign immigrants and people coming here from other states, made up only 10 percent of the growth. For some time now, there had been an exodus of California residents to other states that were better bets for employment and had a lower cost of living. Those departures were more than offset by immigrants. That's over, at least for now - and as you might expect, it'll raise all kinds of questions about the state's economic potential. By the way, L.A. County had more people going out than coming in, though it's still the state's most populous county.