Unemployment Rate Up Slightly to 5.8% : Economy: Experts say the June increase is due to seasonal factors and that the local economy is still making a recovery.
Orange County’s unemployment rate inched up to 5.8% in June. Observers linked the slight rise to temporary job losses when many workers, including school system employees, are off for the summer.
The number of unemployed people in the county rose to 76,200 last month, compared to 71,200 in May, according to figures released Monday by the state Employment Development Department’s Anaheim office. The county’s unemployment rate stood at 5.4% in May.
The county’s jobless rate of 5.8% last month compared favorably with a rate of 6.2% nationwide and an 8.7% rate for California. Los Angeles County’s unemployment rate was 10.1% in June.
Observers said the slight month-to-month increase in Orange County doesn’t necessarily signal problems for the local economy, which is recovering from a recession that began in 1990.
“We are still on an upward part of the curve, but the slope isn’t that dramatic,” said Anil Puri, head of the economics department at Cal State Fullerton.
Puri said the June report confirms that the county’s tourism industry is at last overcoming the stifling effects of last year’s fires and the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.
“You see improvements in the underlying figures in the service sector and especially the tourism industry,” Puri said. “It appears that this summer is finally bringing tourism back.”
Monday’s report showed a net loss of 3,900 non-agriculture jobs, however, from June, 1993, to June, 1994.
Services, government, transportation and public utilities each registered overall gains. But the manufacturing, finance, insurance, real estate, retail, wholesale and construction sectors registered net losses.
The Summer Slump
Orange County’s jobless rate increased slightly in June, but the upswing is typical during the summer. The current rate is still below the 1993 annual average of 6.7%.
June 1993: 7.1%
June 1994: 5.8%
Source: Employment Development Department
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