Governor Newsom spotlights California’s steel comeback: first new mill in 50 years brings jobs, investment, and cleaner industry

Powered by clean energy, the new mill will bring high-wage jobs to Kern County and rank among the nation's newest steel mills

What you need to know: California is expanding steel manufacturing, while cutting the pollution that has traditionally come with it. With help from Governor Newsom's California Jobs First Program, Pacific Steel Group's Mojave Micro Mill will use electric manufacturing technology and renewable energy to bring a new steel mill to California for the first time in over 50 years - creating 700 new jobs and shaping the industry's future with zero-carbon steel.

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"We're bringing good-paying jobs and one of the nation's biggest new steel mills to Kern County - more opportunity, cleaner industry, and growth that works for the people who live here. The Mojave Micro Mill shows how California can expand steel manufacturing, cut emissions, improve public health, and grow regional economies at the same time. That's the promise of California Jobs First: listen locally, invest strategically, and build a cleaner, more inclusive economy from the ground up."

Governor Gavin Newsom

California's economic dominance

Through the Governor's first-in-the-nation Jobs First program, the Governor worked with local communities to build their economies, create jobs, and support their local economic goals and regional sectors. It is this approach that has made California's economy the 4th largest in the world, the #1 job producer in the nation, and the #1 state across just about every major industry - all while continuing to meet climate goals and lead the nation on renewable energy.

California Jobs First: a bold vision built locally

Governor Newsom met with the Kern County Jobs First Collaborative as part of the Governor's tour to hear more about their local economic priorities and develop the statewide California Jobs First Economic Blueprint.

The Mojave Micro Mill demonstrates how the region is advancing initiatives that create more good-paying jobs in climate-forward industries.

The Mojave Micro Mill is slated to open next year and will set the standard for steel manufacturing. The project is expected to bring major economic development to Kern County, creating new jobs, including computer system engineers, millwrights, welders, electricians, and automation and robotics specialists. The site will house a 500,000-square-foot main building and a 63-acre solar farm to provide renewable energy, helping power what will be one of the newest steel mills in the country. The mill will melt locally sourced scrap in an electric arc furnace powered by on-site solar and battery storage, producing about 380,000 tons of seismic-grade rebar per year with zero process emissions, the first solar-powered steel mill in the United States.

Investing in California's success

The project received a$30 million tax credit from Governor Newsom's California Competes program, which was critical in supporting Mojave Micro Mill's groundbreaking and helping Pacific Steel hire employees and invest in manufacturing equipment. In exchange for this tax credit, the company committed to more than $540 million in capital investments and nearly 450 new jobs in the mill's first 5 years of operation.

Additional state support will help the mill invest in clean energy and manufacturing equipment. The California Energy Commission approved up to $14 million for a 32-megawatt-hour long-duration battery to store the mill's solar power and keep it running through outages. The California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority approved a sales and use tax exclusion worth up to $10 million on the mill's manufacturing equipment.

Pacific Steel is also collaborating with California State University, Bakersfield, the Kern Community College District, and Antelope Valley Community College to establish employment pathways, including a certificate program to prepare students for steel manufacturing careers.

Building a foundation for sustainable growth

Governor Newsom launched what is now known as the Regional Investment Initiative, Jobs First, in 2021, originally the Community Economic Resilience Fund, to create good-paying, accessible jobs and sustainable economic growth by building statewide collaboratives and identifying regional strengths and opportunities.

Mapping the future, region by region

To support this process, Governor Newsom invested $5 million in each of the 13 California Jobs First regions to develop regional roadmaps.

These roadmaps identified the industry sectors that will shape each region's future economy, along with strategies for success and investment opportunities, all driven by extensive community input. Together, the 13 regional plans ultimately laid the foundation for the Economic Blueprint, a statewide economic vision informed by the regional plans and anchored by the strategic sectors vital for driving California's future growth and innovation.

The plans also reached a significant milestone in California's economic development effort when all 13 were formally designated as Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS) by the United States Economic Development Administration (EDA) in April 2025. This accomplishment marked the first time in California's history that all 483 cities, 58 counties, and every community have a federally recognized strategy, creating new opportunities to attract and leverage investments in the implementation of these plans.

Governor Newom's Jobs First funding has supported 333 early-stage projects. In 2025, statewide Jobs First investments totaled nearly $1.6 billion across all 13 regions, supporting more than 61,000 jobs and training for more than 142,000 workers, including projected jobs and planned training.

Governor Newsom's Jobs First has supported projects including:

• Kern County's Jobs First Collaborative is receiving $6.85 million for the Mojave Air and Space Port and a new Aerospace Valley innovation hub.

• The opening of Yreka Carnegie, a rural business innovation and entrepreneurship hub serving the North State. The project received $3.65 million in state funding to support agriculture, outdoor recreation tourism, wood-products businesses, workforce pathways, and climate-resilient economic development.

Recently, the Newsom administration invested $48.5 million through the California Jobs First Regional Investment Initiative to support 18 projects across eight economic regions. The investments are expected to create 20,000 jobs while advancing regional economic priorities in key sectors across the state.

California's economy is dominating

Since Governor Newsom took office, California's economy has grown by more than $1.58 trillion. The Golden State represents only 11.5% of the U.S. population but accounts for nearly 14% of U.S. GDP - 47% larger than Texas. California continues to lead the nation economically, outpacing all states and every developed nation, according to a Bloomberg analysis.

Under Governor Newsom, the Golden State leads the nation in 17 of 20 major economic sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and health care. California's manufacturing sector alone generated $391 billion in economic output in 2025 - 18% more than Texas.

⬆️According to federal data, California outpaced the next three largest state economies in 2025, growing 3.5% after inflation, compared with 2.8% in Texas and Florida and 2.5% in New York.

California is home to more than 4.3 million small businesses, representing 99.8% of all businesses in the state and employing 7.6 million people.

California is creating more jobs. More than one in four American jobs added over the past year were in California. The state added 129,300 of the nation's 496,000 net payroll jobs from September 2025 through September 2026-about 26%. California accounted for 14.6% of America's net payroll job growth through September, adding 89,100 jobs during the first nine months of 2026.

‍California's payroll job growth rate was more than twice the national rate over the past year and more than twice the state's share of new U.S. jobs relative to its population from September 2025 to September 2026.

Unemployment fell by 106,500 Californians over ten consecutive months through September. The unemployment rate held steady at 5.1%, matching its lowest level since February 2024.