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County Jobless Rate Improves Slightly : Economy: August figure is 8.1%, driven by growth in services. But high-tech industry is shrinking.

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Led by steady gains in service jobs, the county’s unemployment rate ticked down slightly from 8.3% to 8.1% in August, a sign that the economy is slowly, but steadily, recovering.

With 5,300 new jobs created since August, 1994, the report shows that the economy is gaining strength, although high-paying, high-tech manufacturing jobs continue to flee the county, said Mark Schniepp, who heads the UC Santa Barbara Economic Project and tracks Ventura County’s economy.

“For the past 15 months we have been creating jobs steadily, so the labor market is recovering,” he said. “Growth is still modest. It doesn’t appear to be accelerating, but at the same time it is not decelerating.”

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Overall, Ventura County saw an annual 2.1% increase in jobs, compared to Los Angeles County’s 0.7% increase.

Compared to July, Ventura County had 4,100 fewer jobs in August, but most losses were due to seasonal employment. For instance, bus drivers and student teachers accounted for 1,900 jobs lost in local education last month, according to Sonja Speer of the state Employment Development Department.

And while farm employment dropped by 2,200 jobs to 18,000 in August, most of those ended with the lemon and orange harvests, according to Al Guilin, executive vice president of the Limoniera Co., a large citrus and avocado producer.

“Those two harvests are diminishing now quite quickly, and as they diminish so do the packinghouse operations,” Guilin said. “In addition, the strawberry harvest was over this year in the middle of the summer.”

Although the number of farm jobs dropped last month, it was still 2,000 more than there were at this time last year. Guilin attributes the increase in part to rain and the Medfly quarantine in Camarillo, both of which led to late harvests.

Overall, the economy showed modest monthly fluctuations in most sectors and the number of service jobs continued to increase. About 1,800 new service workers--ranging from hairdressers to attorneys--joined the work force in the past year. Most of those, about 1,300, were in business contracting and consulting.

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“A lot of that growth is due to the number of companies downsizing and therefore looking to contractors to do some of their work,” Schniepp said.

Meanwhile, the county lost 1,300 manufacturing jobs--1,100 in the durable goods segment. The decline is likely to continue, as large companies continue consolidating and downsizing, Schniepp said.

The technology industry has been hit hard by this drop. Although employment in high-tech was unchanged from July to August, the sector has lost 500 jobs since this time last year.

“That is a pretty big hit,” Schniepp said. “It is not something we want to see because those are the highest-paying jobs in the county, so it is an area we continue to lose wealth in.”

Other job categories grew during the year. The retail, transportation and public-utilities sectors each grew by 900 jobs. Finance, insurance, real estate and construction were up by 300 while wholesale trade jumped by 400 jobs. Local, county and city government employment grew by 1,100. Jobs in local education grew by 400, matching the increase in enrollment.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Ventura County Jobless Rate

August, 1995: 8.1%

*

Annual Rates

1994: 7.9%

1993: 8.8%

1992: 8.8%

Source: State Employment Development Department

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