Rate for Jobless Holds Steady at 4.4% in County

In what is starting to sound like a broken record, state officials said Thursday that Orange County’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.4% in September for the third consecutive month.

Not only does the stagnant rate signal a stable economy, but it also bucks earlier projections by the state’s Employment Development Department that the county’s jobless rate would rise slowly over the late summer and fall months.

Still, the department projects a slight rise in local unemployment for October, triggered by anticipated layoffs in the manufacturing sector, followed by sharp drops in the jobless rate in November and December--when the retail hiring binge begins for the Christmas season.

The county’s jobless rate remains the lowest in Southern California, well below the 6.7% reported in Los Angeles County last month, and considerably lower than the state’s seasonally adjusted rate of 7.6%. County rates are not adjusted seasonally.

Marin County Lower

The Orange County rate, however, sits higher than Marin County, which posted the state’s lowest September jobless rate at 3.7%.

Employment department officials said the number of unemployed residents in Orange County edged downward by 800 last month to 56,900, in part because some summer job seekers returned to school. At the same time, the number of jobs in Orange County rose to 1,004,600 last month, up 4,600 from the month before.

The local jobless rate virtually mirrors that of a year ago, when the county reported a 4.5% figure. But unlike last year, when employment in the construction industry was starting to climb, the growth rate in that industry has slowed considerably--particularly in the residential construction section.

“This year there are a lot fewer permits for residential housing, and fewer homes means fewer construction workers,” said Alta Yetter, labor market analyst at the department. A total of 9,141 building permits were issued during the first seven months of 1985, down 15% from 10,417 issued during the same period last year.

This apparent slowing of growth comes, unexpectedly, at a time when interest rates for home loans are at their lowest point in years.