County Jobless Rate Rises as Schools Let Out : Student Job Seekers Spur Increase to 4.3%
An influx of June graduates and summer job seekers combined with continuing layoffs among computer makers to push Orange County’s jobless rate up to 4.3% last month, the state Employment Development Department reported Thursday.
The rate was less than 1 percentage point higher than the 3.5% recorded for May or the 4.2% reported for June of last year. Local labor analysts said it reflected the usual summertime increase caused by students looking for vacation work. (County unemployment statistics are not adjusted for seasonal variations, as are state and national figures.)
“Normally the rate goes up between May and June and stays a little elevated for July and August,” said Alta Yetter, labor market analyst for the EDD’s Santa Ana office. “But it tapers off again in September when the students return to school full time.”
However, Yetter said June’s jobless rate also reflects the ongoing layoffs among manufacturers of computers and computer products. Employment in Orange County computer factories sank to 14,300 in June, down from a high of 16,300 in 1980 and 15,800 a year ago, according to Yetter’s statistics.
Among the companies trimming workers were Apple Computer, which operates an assembly plant in Garden Grove; Printronix, which has reduced employment at its Irvine computer printer manufacturing plant by 250 over the last six months, and Xerox, which closed its copier-refurbishing plant in Irvine last month and laid off all 220 workers.
Although layoffs have reduced the level of manufacturing jobs, the total number of jobs in the county rose in June to a record 1,013,900, up 6,200 from May and 38,200, or nearly 4%, from a year ago. Yetter said the gain was fueled largely by new retail and tourism jobs.
Yetter said the gain was fueled largely by 2,300 new jobs among retail businesses, including restaurants, and 2,100 new positions to serve summertime tourism, including jobs at amusement parks and hotels, and 900 new construction jobs.
