January Jobless Rate of 8% Is Highest in More Than 6 Years

Ventura County’s unemployment rate hit its highest level in more than six years in January, and the county’s job market has grown even bleaker since then, state officials said Wednesday.

The state Employment Development Department said the county’s jobless rate reached 8% in January, reflecting an increase of more than 3,000 county residents on the unemployment rolls in just a month.

The rate was nearly 1% higher when contrasted with the December rate, and the highest in Ventura County since an 8.3% unemployment rate in July, 1985.

Also, 8,674 people countywide filed new claims for unemployment benefits in February, up about 10% from January. State officials attributed part of the increase to rain-related layoffs in agriculture and construction.

“There just ain’t no work, nowhere,” said Josh McClester, 20, of Oak View, who filed for unemployment benefits on Wednesday after losing his $340-a-week job managing a shoe-repair shop. “I’ve applied for everything except flipping hamburgers. You can’t live on $4.25 an hour.”

A total of 29,700 county residents were listed as unemployed in January, contrasted with 26,500 a month earlier. Overall, the county’s jobless rate was lower than the 8.5% statewide rate in January and equal to the national rate.

In comparison, Colusa County in Northern California posted the state’s worst unemployment rate in January: 26.2%. Alpine County had a rate of 4.1%, the lowest in the state.

The unemployment rate traditionally rises in January due to post-holiday layoffs, but the jump in Ventura County’s rate from 7.1% in December was more severe than anticipated.

“I don’t see that any solutions have been put forward that are going to get people running back to work,” said Patricia Baldoni, employment services supervisor for the state unemployment office in Simi Valley.

But some analysts said that an economic recovery appears to be under way and that the county’s labor market should see signs of improvement in coming months.

“We’re beginning to see indications of a recovery,” said Marshall Milligan, president of Ventura-based Bank of A. Levy. “But unemployment is a lagging indicator that won’t come around for a number of months, even though the recovery is under way.”

Cynthia Thorpe, 43, of Ventura doesn’t expect to return to work until the real estate market improves. Thorpe lost her job as a title searcher in August when her company was bought out by another that laid off half the staff.

“I’m just sitting here waiting for home sales to pick up,” Thorpe said while inquiring at the unemployment office on Wednesday as to why her last benefit check had not arrived. “But people aren’t ready to sell yet since so many of them would have to sell for a loss.”

Job listings have been scarce recently at the state’s south Oxnard unemployment center, with most being lower-paying positions, said Linda Dever, the center’s assistant manager. Of the 30 jobs posted Wednesday, Dever said the few paying $25,000 or more a year called for an aircraft body repairman, a maintenance supervisor, a physician’s assistant and a computer engineer.

“It’s still real slow as far as job opportunities out there,” Dever said. “A lot of farm workers are back to work now picking strawberries, but the other industries are pretty slow.”

Baldoni said nearly a third of the 156 job postings at the Simi Valley unemployment office are for clerical workers. She said there has been a growing call for machinists, but at the $14-an-hour scale, not the $17 to $20 an hour that skilled machinists normally earn.

“They’re not the top-level jobs, but at least they’re there,” Baldoni said.

Overall, the number of construction jobs in Ventura County in January was down 1,100 from a year earlier, while manufacturing jobs fell by 3,200. The retail trade, services and transportation and public utility industries also lost from 700 to 900 jobs each from a year ago.

Unemployment Rates

Jan. 1992 Dec. 1991 Jan. 1991 Ventura County 8.0% 7.1% 7.6% California 8.5% 7.4% 7.4% United States 8.0% 6.8% 7.0%

Source: California Employment Development Department

Note: Figures not adjusted for seasonal employment variations.