May Jobless Rate Dips to 6.4%, Lowest Since ’91 : Economy: A year ago, county unemployment was 7.8%. But state officials caution that methods of calculating the figures have changed.

Ventura County’s unemployment levels in May dipped to 6.4%, the lowest rate recorded for the county since 1991, the state Employment Development Department announced Friday.

In May, 1993, the county’s jobless rate was 7.8%, but state officials cautioned against comparing the two numbers because methods of calculating the figures have changed.

Economist Bruce Devine of the Southern California Assn. of Governments nonetheless called the drop a hopeful sign of an improving economy. “This is a very good number,” Devine said. “This is the first time in a long time that I think we’ve seen some year-over-year gains that sound solid in Ventura County.”

Overall, about 3,300 county residents found work in May, according to state figures.

“That’s a gain in employment, no two ways about it,” said Devine.

About 200 jobs were added in both construction and retail sectors. Economists had looked to the January earthquake to bolster the faltering construction trade, which until now had not received much of a boost.

“Maybe we are seeing some earthquake effect now,” said Mark Schniepp, director of the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecasting Project. “Construction is up.”

He noted that the number of building permit applications has increased 41% since January.

Even though Schniepp and Devine said the drop in unemployment appeared to indicate an upward turn in the county’s economy, both cautioned that the trend would have to continue for a few months before being taken too seriously.

The labor force dropped by 400 people from April to May, a figure that Schniepp considered significant. “The labor force is not increasing,” Schniepp said. “Normally if the economy is doing better more people get out and start looking for jobs.”

Much of the gains in retail jobs may be attributed to the opening of the Oxnard Outlet Mall. Many employers began hiring in May, and Oxnard Unemployment Office counselor Chris Cruse pointed out that with the exception of store managers, most of the positions were filled by county residents.

However, Cruse said the jobs available are likely to pay little more than minimum wage, a discouraging sign for residents who have been out of work for a long time.

“Most of the jobs we’ve been seeing have been in retail and other low-paying jobs,” Cruse said. But he said one Camarillo videocassette manufacturer, Technicolor Video Services, was expanding its business, and added employees in May at wages ranging from $7 to $12 an hour.

Manufacturing jobs were up by about 600 positions, half of which were in non-durable goods such as food-packing and processing. “That’s packing the strawberries,” Schniepp said. “That’s Smuckers out in the field making that stuff into jam.”

Generally agricultural jobs account for a jump in employment figures each spring. But during May, 400 agricultural jobs were lost, and Cruse said some of those unemployed workers are starting to trickle into his office.

“In May they were still picking a lot of strawberries, but now they are starting to get laid off,” Cruse said.