Florida's governor trades jabs with California's governor

LOS ANGELES (FOX 13) - California Governor Jerry Brown ripped Florida Governor Rick Scott Tuesday in a letter he sent responding to Scott's job-poaching trip to Los Angeles.

"If you're truly serious about Florida's economic well-being, it's time to stop the silly political stunts and start doing something about climate change," the letter said. "Two words you won't even let state officials say."

Scott slammed California's planned increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.

Scott said that was the perfect opportunity for California companies to move here to Florida and save money.

"What they are doing is hurting their economy," Scott said last week.

Ahead of Scott's trip, the state put out radio ads criticizing the move.

"700,000, that's how many California jobs will be lost thanks to the politicians raising the minimum wage," the ad said.

Brown's response said his state's economy is the 7th largest in the world, and that "California competes with nations like Brazil and France, not states like Florida," for jobs.

Brown snarkily included a link to a report that says $70 billion worth of Florida's coastal property is in jeopardy.

"He needs to check the ground surface, because it is seemingly sinking away down there in Florida," said Brown.

Comparing economic numbers reveals that both states have points to brag about when it comes to their economy.

Scott talks about our lower business taxes and absence of a personal income tax.

Florida does have the edge in unemployment and in year-over-year job growth, but California boasts higher hourly earnings, a better GDP and has seen a bigger drop in unemployment since the great recession.

Our political editor says this is really a self-serving election year fight.

"This is the national Republican versus Democratic battle that is now playing out between governors of Florida and California," said FOX 13's Craig Patrick. "In Florida, you have a governor who may well have aspirations for the US Senate. In California you have a high profile senior Democrat, one of the best known in the country, who wants to speak up for his party."

One thing that is not tracked scientifically is how many jobs actually went from one state to the other.

All we know for sure is that in 2014, 23,000 people moved from California to Florida, and that almost 26,000 moved from Florida to California.

There are 53 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in California, versus 15 in Florida.

The statistics below are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Census, and Arizona State University.

FL (POP: 19.7M)                         FL                       CAL (POP 38.3M)      SOURCE
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE          4.9%                       5.4%                          BLS
EARNINGS                                 $23.16/hr               $28.46/hr                   BLS
GDP                                             +3.2%                     +3.5%                        BLS
JOBS SINCE RECESSION     +19%                       +18%                         BLS
UNEMP SINCE RECESSION -6.3%                       -6.8%                         BLS            
GDP SINCE RECESSION       +1.7%                     +2.2%                        BLS
JOBS YEAR OVER YEAR        +3.1%(8TH)            +2.8%(13TH)           ASU
NET MIGRATION                       +23,239 (CA->FL)  +25,622 (FL->CA)  US CENSUS