REGIONAL REPORT : Higher Hiring : Doors Are Finally, Slowly, Opening for Southland Jobseekers

Anthony Turner is one reason why California’s employment picture is brightening, if only a bit.

The 24-year-old Culver City resident went three months without a full-time job--until this week, when he nailed down a salaried position with Norwest Financial Services Inc. in Van Nuys, where he’ll train to be a credit manager.

“You can’t believe the burden that has been lifted off of my shoulders,” said Turner, previously a buyer for a San Diego electronics company.

Landing another job, he said, “wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.”

Indeed, Turner represents both sides of the current employment outlook in Southern California.

His ability to finally find a job is a reflection of figures released Friday by the U.S. Labor Department that show the unemployment rate in California fell to 8.6% of the labor force in April--the lowest level in a year--from 9.4% the prior month.

But the length of Turner’s search also illustrates the fact that job creation in the region remains sluggish. Despite its decline last month, the state’s jobless rate was still well above the 7.0% national rate in April, the Labor Department said. And a separate government survey of business payrolls found that the number of Californians working actually dropped last month.

Tyri Williams also knows firsthand that the job market--despite slight improvement--remains tough. Since graduating from UC Santa Cruz a year ago, Williams, 22, found employment consisting mainly of selling small kitchen appliances at a Robinson’s-May department store.

But Williams recently found a job as a management trainee in the Canoga Park office of Household Finance, a consumer lending company.

“Now there’s a great feeling of satisfaction when I get up in the morning,” Williams said, “that I’m not going to have to thumb through the want ads.”

To Joann Manion, owner of Tustin Personnel Services Inc., these are familiar takes on the California economy.

“I can’t be real positive yet, but I’m not negative anymore, either,” she said. Lately, her company has seen job orders from packaging and medical equipment manufacturers pick up slightly.

Some companies are hiring because of expansion plans. One is Smart & Final, a Vernon-based operator of warehouse-style grocery stores that’s opening 18 outlets this year, each typically providing 20 to 30 jobs, according to spokeswoman Leanne Reynolds.

The new stores are also raising production at Smart & Final’s central warehouse and distribution center in Vernon.

“We’ve gone from two shifts to three shifts over the last year,” Reynolds said.

Micropolis Corp., a Chatsworth-based manufacturer of computer data storage systems, is also gearing up to expand into new markets and is aggressively hiring experienced engineers and computer programmers for jobs carrying annual salaries of $50,000 or more.

“I’ve got 70 openings right now,” said Rick Chinberg, Micropolis’ employment manager.

But other employers and placement agencies said jobs in general are still hard to come by, despite the economy’s modest improvement. Many firms are holding off on hiring--and instead are paying workers more overtime--until they’re more confident about the economic rebound.

“I’ve still got resumes on my desk full of people in the construction and aerospace fields,” said Linda Crist, owner of Galiard Employment Agency in Los Angeles.

Arthur White, owner of JAA Employment Agency--which referred Turner and Williams to their new employers--said companies’ job orders are edging higher, but employers are also able to be more choosy about whom they hire.

“It used to be they’d look at three candidates for one job,” White said. “Now they’re looking at nine people and hiring one.”

One such employer is Bill Shieff, president of Nellson Candies Inc., an Irwindale-based producer of nutritional food bars and confections. Shieff has openings for an experienced mechanic, machine operator and other manufacturers, but he also has high standards.

“We’re taking advantage of the large local pool of talent,” he said. “We have a larger selection of people to draw from than we did even six months ago” because “a number of other companies have scaled back.”

Until lately, that pool included 43-year-old Gator Crom of Costa Mesa. After 13 years as an accountant with Allergan Pharmaceuticals in Irvine, he was laid off late in 1991 and spent 1992 hunting for another job.

Despite sending out 100 resumes, “I got very few interviews,” Crom said.

This year, however, more employers began nibbling. For the last five months, he’s had a temporary accounting job in the Anaheim office of Kwikset Corp., a lock-making unit of Black & Decker Corp., and he hopes to get the job permanently.

“I’m still living paycheck to paycheck,” Crom said, “but at least there’s one to pay the bills with.”

Back to Work

The unemployment rate in California dropped last month to its lowest level in a year, raising hopes about the prospects for the state’s economy. But a payroll survey of employment--widely considered a more reliable barometer--showed continuing erosion in California’s job picture.

Unemployment rates (as a percentage of the labor force)

April March April, 1992 California 8.6% 9.4% 8.2% Men 10.3% 10.5% 9.6% Women 8.5% 9.2% 7.5% Anglo 9.4% 9.8% 8.6% Black 13.9% 14.8% 12.6% Latino 13.1% 14.2% 12.0% Youth (age 16-19) 22.7% 25.1% 23.9% United States 7.0% 7.0% 7.3%

Source: California Employment Development Department Payroll Survey Totals

Change from April April, 1992 Total non-farm jobs 11,980,200 -109,800 Mining 32,700 -2,800 Construction 451,100 -24,000 Manufacturing 1,809,700 -92,000 Transportation/utilities 600,200 -3,800 Wholesale trade 706,100 -13,400 Retail trade 2,052,900 -43,700 Finance* 782,400 -10,500 Services** 3,444,700 +20,700 Government 2,100,400 -29,400 Agriculture 363,200 -19,600

*Category includes financial services, insurance and real estate **Category includes among others, business, health and educational services, hotels, entertainment and recreation