Unemployment Rate Jumps to 7.8% : Economy: Analysts say there is no sign of a rebound from the recession in the near future. Jobless figures have risen since July.

As the recession continued to keep a strong hold on Ventura County, the jobless rate jumped to 7.8% in September--a full percentage point above the mark of a year ago.

That means 29,000 people in the county were looking for work, up from 25,300 in September, 1990, according to statistics released Friday by the state Employment Development Department.

Economists say there is no sign of a rebound any time soon.

“This is not going to be a quick fix,” said Bradley Wetherell, president of Ventura County National Bank. “It’s going to take patience, diligence and extraordinary restraint and control.”

He predicted that the recession would be over by the end of 1992, but the economy would remain flat for now.

“I feel cautiously comfortable now because it appears we are going sideways,” Wetherell said. “I have a degree of optimism.”

Statewide, more than 1 million people were out of work during September--a rate of 7.5%, up slightly from August.

Since January, unemployment rates in Ventura County had declined slightly, prompting authorities to speculate that the economy might have stopped its downhill slide. But during the summer the recession tightened its grip and the figures started to inch up again.

In July, unemployment was 7.5%. It rose to 7.6% in August.

During September, manufacturing was the hardest hit industry, said Linda Reed, a state analyst. Agriculture also continued to suffer.

Pat Baldoni, supervisor of the EDD office in Simi Valley, said new unemployment insurance claims at her office for September were 2,242, up nearly 100 from the month before.

“We’re still seeing more and more people each month,” Baldoni said. “I don’t know when we will start pulling out. Nothing is showing that there are any more opportunities in the area.”

Complicating the problem, officials say, is the fact that new jobs are not opening up--except for seasonal ones for agricultural workers--to absorb great numbers of the unemployed. Jobs in the $8- to $12-per-hour range remain scarce.

“Normally, we would take up to 40 new job orders” a month, Baldoni said. On Friday, the office had 15 to 20 on file.

“We’re also noticing that we don’t have as many retail employers hiring for the holidays,” Baldoni said. “They’re telling us that they will increase part-time people to more hours. But they’re not looking to increase their number of employees.”

Annette Sparks, EDD manager in south Oxnard, said the employment situation also has been bleak at her office.

She said unemployment insurance filings at her office were 6,543 for July, August and September--up about 300 from that period last year.

New job orders were down 5% to 10%. Clerical workers are most in demand, Sparks said, at salaries of $5 to $9 an hour.

According to a recent Ventura County National Bank survey, 71% of business owners interviewed reported that they do not expect to increase their work forces within the next six months.

“I don’t know (an executive) who’s not looking for ways to cut back,” Wetherell said. “They’re using their money more creatively.”