South County Unemployment Office Opening : Economy: Almost a fourth of jobless claims in the county come from residents of the area.

The growing number of unemployment insurance claims filed by South County residents has prompted state employment officials to open an office here.

The new Employment Development Department facility at 23456 Madero, Mission Viejo, is scheduled to open for business Sept. 1.

Currently, the EDD office closest to South County--an area that stretches from Irvine to San Clemente--is in Santa Ana.

“The need is definitely there in South County,” said Roberta Masek, who will be job services supervisor at the new EDD office.

Almost a fourth of the unemployment claim applications processed at the EDD’s Santa Ana office are from South County residents, she said.

The 21 employees assigned to the Mission Viejo office will be transfers from the other four Orange County offices.

Eleanor Jordan, the EDD’s Orange County labor market analyst, said a preliminary study put the county’s jobless rate at 6.7% in June, the latest month for which figures are available.

The rate was the highest monthly unemployment level in the county since the 7% recorded for August, 1983.

The rate in June, 1991, was 5.4%.