SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

More Good News for the Region: San Bernardino and Riverside counties, whose economic outlook was tabulated jointly, will see yet another year with a gain in employment--this time 18,000 jobs. It is the only Southern California region surveyed that has not posted a loss in jobs during California’s long downturn. But the jobless rate in the fast-growing area will remain high, dipping to 9.3% from 9.7%. The employment gains came from widespread development in the late 1980s that has since fallen off. The county will see an additional 600 housing permit requests in 1995, but the total of 13,970 will be just a quarter of the record total in 1986. Both total personal income and retail sales figures are projected to go up about 6%, to $56.2 billion and $15.9 billion, respectively.