Countywide : Jobless Rate Holds at 7.2% in December

Ventura County’s jobless rate remain unchanged at 7.2% in December, with employment levels in virtually all industries holding steady, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday.

A total of 26,800 county residents were out of work in December, the same number as in November, the state reported. The number of people holding jobs grew by 4,300 to 347,700, an increase not statistically significant enough to drop the unemployment rate.

State officials said the only industry to post a significant month-to-month change was retail trade, which grew by 1,000 jobs, about half the usual number for the holiday retail season.

“A lot of the stores just kept their part-timers and made them full time,” said Patricia Baldoni, employment services supervisor for the state unemployment office in Simi Valley.

The county’s December rate compared with a 7% jobless rate in December, 1990. The rate is not adjusted to account for seasonal employment patterns.

Ventura County’s rate in December was marginally lower than the 7.4% unemployment rate reported through-out California, but higher than the U.S. jobless rate of 6.8%.