Hire Authorities Say Summer Jobs Will Be Plentiful : Employment: Young people should be able to find work in restaurants, stores, offices and parks.

Summer jobs are expected to be plentiful in Ventura County this year, according to people in a position to know.

“We’re looking forward to a great summer,” said Joyce Waldron, executive director of the Ventura Youth Employment Service, a nonprofit organization that placed 4,000 applicants ages 13 through 25 in full- and part-time positions last year.

Starting in mid-June, when most school summer vacations begin, Waldron expects “lots of young people eager to work” to start filling jobs in restaurants, stores, offices and parks.

Other agencies that match youthful applicants with employers, including the Private Industry Council and employment offices at local colleges and high schools, said they, too, expect a strong job market this summer.

Most summer jobs for students pay the minimum wage, $4.25 an hour.

Ventura County has strong retail and service industries and low unemployment. Its jobless rate in March was 4%, said Linda Reed, a state employment analyst.

The figure compares with 5.9% in the Los Angeles-Long Beach metropolitan area and 5.3% in the state as a whole. All the rates are unadjusted for seasonal trends. “Certainly, the Ventura County jobless rate is one of the lowest in the state,” Reed said.

Dan Fillmore, manager of the McDonald’s at 2137 E. Harbor Blvd. in Ventura, said he expects to hire 15 to 20 people this summer.

“The sooner the better, so we can get their training started,” he said. “We’re near the beach, so our business picks up a lot during the summer.”

Lisa McInally, personnel coordinator of Paschen Management Corp., a Camarillo-based company that operates six McDonald’s restaurants in the county, including Fillmore’s, said all the restaurants will be hiring this summer.

Annette Sparks, manager of the Employment Development Department’s south Oxnard office, said her office and one in north Oxnard usually place about 500 young people in summer jobs each year. The Oxnard offices serve the western part of the county, and an office in Simi Valley serves the eastern county.

At the J. C. Penney department store in Ventura’s Buenaventura Fashion Center, Manager James W. Word says he’ll be hiring too. He said his career with the company started with a summer job in Ventura 37 years ago.