Unemployment Slides to 5.9%, a 6-Year Low

The advent of summer has heated up the economy, sending the Ventura County unemployment rate dipping to 5.9%, its lowest level in almost six years.

Preliminary figures released by the state Friday show that seasonal hiring in the tourism-related restaurant and bar business, which added 500 new jobs last month, helped drive the rate down to its lowest level since the 5% recorded in June 1990.

“Consumer sentiment must be up,” said Doug Perron, a labor market analyst with the state Employment Development Department. “If the restaurants are gearing up, there must be more people out there spending money. There must be tourists.”

May’s unemployment rate compares with revised figures of 6.1% in April and 6.4% in May 1995.

The unemployment rate is traditionally lowest in May because of seasonal hiring in the agriculture, construction and tourism industries, Perron said. Moreover, students have not yet joined the job market, which can lead to an increase in unemployment.

Ventura County’s nonfarm employment, considered one of the best measures of the economy’s health, grew by 5,300 jobs over May 1995 for a total of 243,000. That means jobs are being created at a buoyant annual clip of 2.2%, noted Perron.

Last year, nonfarm jobs increased by a mere 200 from April to May, he said. The increase for the same period this year was a healthy 2,100, almost 10 times as much, Perron said.

Manufacturing gained 500 jobs in May, and retailers added 700 positions, including the 500 in restaurants.

Jeffrey Bengston, senior vice president with a company that owns 10 Domino’s pizza outlets in the Conejo and San Fernando valleys, said his firm has hired 30 to 40 people in the last month. The company usually hires more workers in the summer, but the figure is higher than usual, he said.

“We have more customers now than we’ve had in awhile, so I think people are spending a little more freely,” Bengston said. “[The economy] has been extremely slow to come around, but particularly in the last two or three months, things have gotten a little bit better.”

Ken Talley of Ventura was one of those restaurant workers hired last month. Talley, 25, had spent the last six months picking up the occasional construction job before becoming one of 146 employees hired by the new Eric Ericsson’s Fish Co., which opened on the Ventura Pier on June 1.

He described the job market as “pretty shabby” before he landed the job as a waiter at the upscale eatery.

“Even my construction contractor buddies weren’t able to get enough work to keep me full time,” Talley said. “It’s definitely been dry the past couple of years, and having this place open up was just a godsend.”

When it opened its plush, new quarters, the restaurant hired 116 more workers than it had in its former Seaward Avenue location, said owner Eric Wachter.

It’s difficult to say whether diners are more at ease with opening their wallets because the restaurant is enjoying its honeymoon period with customers, he said. But sales have come in one-third above projections.

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Ventura County Jobless Rate

May 1996: 5.9%

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Annual Rates

1995: 7.4%

1994: 7.8%

1993: 8.9%

1992: 8.9%

Note: All figures are subject to adjustment

Source: California Employment Development Department