Jobless Rate Dips, but Number of Jobs Continues to Fall

Reflecting the typical boost in summer hiring, Orange County’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.7% in August from a seven-year high of 5.7% in July, the state Employment Development Department reported Monday.

That decline does not suggest relief from the continuing effects of the recession, however. The county’s unemployment rate for August, 1990, was only 3.3%.

Overall, there were 3,200 fewer jobs in the county in August than in July, for a monthly decline of 0.3%, according to a companion survey prepared by Eleanor Jordan, the department’s labor market analyst for Orange County.

Since August, 1990, Orange County employers have trimmed 16,400 jobs from their payrolls, a decline of 1.3%, she said.

Economists have predicted that Orange County’s 1991 total employment will fall below that of 1990, making it the first annual decline since the 1982-83 recession.

Hardest hit has been manufacturing, which lost 8,100 jobs in the past year--a 3.2% decline to 244,600 jobs from 252,700 a year earlier.

The construction trades have taken a beating too. Although there have been slight hiring increases in the past two months, the trades are down 4,800 jobs, falling to 65,400 from 70,200 in August, 1990, for a 6.8% annual decline.

Retail hiring figures underscore the impact the recession has had locally. Retail hiring typically picks up in the summer as stores and restaurants hire students and teachers for part-time work once the school term ends, but retail hiring in Orange County has fallen slightly since June. Since August, 1990, when county retailers had 222,700 people on their payrolls, retail employment has dropped nearly 2.2%, to 217,900 last month.

The job tally for the service segment--which many economists had said was expected to compensate for the decline of manufacturing in Orange County--is down 0.3%, to 891,400 jobs last month from 893,800 a year earlier. The service industries include retailing; tourism and amusement businesses; professional service providers such as accountants, attorneys, engineers and consultants, and personal service providers such as barbers, beauticians and dry cleaners. Because the unemployment rate reflects the number of Orange County residents who are out of work, it can rise or fall independent of the job count, which tallies jobs at businesses situated in Orange County regardless of where the employees live.

In August, according to the state unemployment study, 65,300 Orange County residents were seeking work, down 11.5% from 73,800 in July but up 41.6% from a year earlier.

The county’s civilian labor force--the total number of people the state considers eligible for employment--totaled 1.385 million in August, up 10,000 or 0.7% from July but down 0.5% from 1.392 million in August, 1990.

Most of the 6,900 people who dropped from the labor force in the past year are job seekers who became discouraged and moved out of the county or who exhausted their 26 weeks of unemployment benefits and are no longer included in state figures.

Unemployment Rate in Orange County 1988: 3.1% 1991: 4.7% Source: California Employment Development Department