County’s Jobless Rate Hits 7.1% : High-Tech and Manufacturing Sectors Are Still Showing the Biggest Declines

For the second consecutive month, the unemployment rate rose in Ventura County, hitting 7.1%, as the high-tech and manufacturing sectors continue to post the biggest losses.

Economists said the increase was another sign that the nation’s economy was continuing to slow and that its effects were being felt here.

About 26,600 Ventura County workers said they were unemployed last month, 1,000 more than reported they were out of work in May, 1994, when the unemployment rate stood at 6.4%.

There were 1,400 fewer jobs in manufacturing and 900 fewer in the high-technology fields, typically high-paying industries. Jobs in government and finance were also lost in May.

Further, the exodus of workers out of the county continued.

The state Employment Development Department counted 348,300 people in the Ventura County labor pool last month, down nearly 12,000 from the previous May. More than 8,000 able-bodied workers either left the county or stopped looking for employment since April, the department report showed.

The unemployment rate in April was 6.4%.

The climbing unemployment rate the past two months comes on the heels of dour housing sales figures showing that nearly 20% fewer homes are being sold this year than last in Ventura County. Nationally, consumer confidence is waning and manufacturing companies are reporting production cutbacks.

State unemployment also ticked up to 8% for May, a .2% increase over April.

Still, local economists and business leaders remained upbeat. “Ventura is still better off than most of its neighbors,” said Joe Bonanno, the data base manager of the UC Santa Barbara Economic Project.

The project closely tracks the economies of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Bonanno said the latest unemployment figures belie an increase in employer confidence. Retailers and service providers each hired 800 more workers last month than the previous May.

Wholesale trade and construction also posted gains of 300 and 200 jobs, respectively.

“Our business-sentiment surveys show an overall feeling that [owners and managers] are doing better than last year,” Bonanno said. “There is no cause for alarm.”

Steve Kinney, Oxnard’s economic development manager, said “things have continued strong” in his city and the surrounding area.

“It’s my suspicion that the [local] economy may be slowing down a bit,” he said. “But things have improved in Oxnard.”

He pointed to the recent announcement that a plastics company planned to add 300 workers in Oxnard as well GTE’s grand opening of its 900-employee service center in the city as proof that the economy is still healthy.

“But we are all waiting on the base,” Kinney said. The Naval Air Warfare Center at Point Mugu is on a list of military bases the federal government is considering for closure. Almost 4,600 civilians work there.

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Ventura County Jobless Rate Monthly figures, 1992- 1995 April, 1995: 6.4% *

Annual Rates 1994: 7.9% 1993: 8.8% 1992: 8.8% Source: State Employment Development Department