Area's Jobless Rate of 7.6% Is Below Rest of County : Economy: The bad news is that eight cities that have among the lowest median incomes have rates exceeding the county's 9.6%.

By ANDREW LePAGE

Aug. 8, 1993 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

THE REGION —

With a handful of exceptions, unemployment is lower in San Gabriel Valley cities than the county as a whole.

In 23 of the valley’s 31 cities, unemployment rates were below the countywide average of 9.6% in June--the most recent month for which statistics were available from the state Employment Development Department.

The average unemployment rate among Valley cities in June was about 7.6%, with a low of 3.2% in Sierra Madre and a high of 14.7% in South El Monte. However, some of the valley’s biggest cities, such as Pomona and El Monte, had among the highest unemployment.

The average unemployment rate among San Gabriel Valley cities was also below that of most Southland counties, including San Bernardino (11.1%), Riverside (12.9%), Ventura (8.7%), and San Diego (8.4%). Orange County’s unemployment rate was 6.6%.

Economic analysts say the San Gabriel Valley’s unemployment rates often rank among the lowest in the county. Most San Gabriel Valley communities, they note, are older, with more longtime, conservative, middle-class residents who have job skills that are in demand.

Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles County Inc., identified two factors that have helped the San Gabriel Valley fare better than other regions:

“First, you didn’t have the exposure to the runaway construction boom in offices and houses during the 1980s,” Kyser said, noting that most construction in the San Gabriel Valley occurred in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s.

Thousands of construction workers relocated to the Los Angeles area to capitalize on the construction days of the ‘80s, he said, only to see the boom screech to a halt by the end of the decade.

Also, Kyser said, the San Gabriel Valley has been spared the mass aerospace layoffs that afflicted other areas of the county. McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics, the biggest aerospace companies in the valley, have laid off thousands of workers here in recent years, but their operations in Pomona and Monrovia are small compared to plants in the South Bay and San Fernando Valley.

Richard Wright, dean of economic development at Mt. San Antonio College, attributes the valley’s lower unemployment rates to less reliance on defense work, and to the diversity of industry and wealth of small businesses in the San Gabriel Valley.

Earlier this year, Mt. San Antonio College spearheaded an economic survey that showed nearly two out of three east San Gabriel Valley businesses were holding their own or growing during California’s lingering recession, and two out of three planned to hire within 18 months.

Wright said the Valley’s most recent unemployment statistics further illustrate that the area is more stable economically than much of the Southland.

Still, the San Gabriel Valley’s unemployment rates for June are hardly rosy when placed in historical perspective.

For example, the unemployment rate in Pasadena was well below the county average in June but still more than double what it was just four years ago.

“It looks like the economy is trying to pick up and employers are hiring a few more employees, but not a significant amount,” said Phillip Dunn, executive director of the Foothill Private Industry Council, a federally funded job training and placement program.

About half of the unemployed workers the organization assists have lost their jobs as the result of layoffs from company closures or downsizing, Dunn said. About 60%, he said, are minorities, many with low job skills who have exhausted their unemployment insurance.

In June, eight San Gabriel Valley cities suffered higher unemployment rates than the county average: Azusa (10.7%), South El Monte (14.7%), El Monte (12.1%), Rosemead (10.9%), Pomona (11.8%), La Puente (11.9%), City of Industry (12.2%) and Baldwin Park (10.9%).

Those cities have some of the valley’s highest concentrations of Latinos and lowest median incomes, and represent more than one-fourth of the San Gabriel Valley’s population.

And they have far more immigrants than other San Gabriel Valley communities. With limited English and vocational skills, Latino immigrants have more problems finding work if they are laid off, said Dan Garcia, interim director of the Mid-Valley Manpower Consortium, a federally funded job-training agency.

The blue-collar community of South El Monte has relied heavily on industrial jobs that have dwindled in that town and elsewhere in the county, Garcia said.

Unemployment Rates for June

City: Unemployment Rate

Alhambra: 7.9%

Arcadia: 4.8%

Azusa: 10.7%

Baldwin Park: 10.9%

Bradbury: 3.8%

Claremont: 5.5%

Covina: 7%

Diamond Bar: 4.7%

Duarte: 8.4%

El Monte: 12.1%