State Payroll Count Hits New High
Backed by the economy’s relentless expansion, the number of working Californians reached a record high again in April as the state’s jobless rate dipped to 5.9% from 6% the previous month, state officials said Friday.
Local unemployment rates also edged lower in Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego counties, the Employment Development Department said. The rate in Orange County, which is enjoying a surging job market, dropped to an exceptionally low 2.7% last month.
“The economic recovery in California is now more broadly based, and that is clearly showing up in these numbers,” said Gary Schlossberg, senior economist at Wells Capital Management, an investment arm of Wells Fargo & Co.
The recovery began with gains in California’s exports, particularly from its high-technology sectors, but “now you’re seeing the spillover into our domestic industries, notably housing and retailing,” which is generating jobs in those sectors, Schlossberg said.
So-called payroll employment in California, which is based on surveys of employers, grew by 32,000 jobs last month to a record 13.5 million, marking the 24th consecutive month that the state posted a new high, the EDD said.
A separate survey of households conducted by the federal government, which also counts the self-employed in California, likewise reached a new high of 15.3 million in April, the agency said.
Sectors showing some of the strongest labor gains last month included business services, amusement and recreation services, finance, insurance, real estate, government and wholesale trade, the EDD said.
April’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate also was down from the 6.4% rate of a year earlier, though it remained well above the national rate, which plunged to a 28-year low of 4.3% in April.
But California’s higher rate partly reflects the state’s continued population growth, which keeps swelling the potential work force, said Ted Gibson, chief economist of the state’s Department of Finance.
“The fact that we are growing makes it difficult to get an unemployment rate that looks like the U.S. as a whole,” especially when some states are recording a shrinkage in population, Gibson said.
Despite the labor report’s record numbers, 952,000 Californians remained unemployed last month, including 414,300 people who have been laid off, the EDD said. Even so, the total was the lowest number of unemployed in the state since 913,000 were out of work in September 1990.
Orange County’s jobless rate, which fell from 2.8% the prior month, reflected 1.27 million nonfarm jobs in April, an increase of 3,900 from March. The rate is not adjusted for seasonal factors.
The county, which consistently has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state, was bested only by Marin and Santa Clara (Silicon Valley) counties in Northern California.
When compared to a year ago, the number of nonfarm jobs in Orange County jumped by about 50,700.
“This is a very good, broad-based expansion that we’re experiencing in Orange County,” said Esmael Adibi, director of the Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University. “Every sector of the economy is enjoying healthy growth.”
However, Adibi cautioned, there are signs of slowing.
While new jobs grew 4.2% last month over April 1997, new jobs were being created at a faster pace earlier this year. In January, for example, the growth rate was 5.3%.
“We believe that the rate of growth and job formation gradually will slow down,” Adibi said. “So, on average, 1998 is going to show about 3% or so growth [for the year] compared to 3.7% in 1997.
The financial turmoil in Southeast Asia may contribute to cooling off, Adibi said. Companies that export goods to that area of the world have not yet felt the brunt of the problems, he said.
“We do not expect those companies that were heavily dependent on those markets to increase employment,” he said. “And, in some cases, they may even end up laying off some workers.”
The jobless rate in Los Angeles County slipped to 6.3% in April from a revised 6.4% in March, even though civilian employment fell by 36,000 during the month. That’s because the total number of people in the labor force decreased by 40,000, the EDD said.
Among other counties, whose employment figures are not seasonally adjusted:
* Ventura County’s rate dropped to 4.4% from a revised 4.9% in March, with all of the 1,300 additional jobs coming in the farm sector.
* San Diego County’s unemployment rate edged down to 3.3% from a revised 3.5% in March, with total nonfarm employment rising by 2,900 jobs, to a total of 1.07 million.
* The rate for Riverside and San Bernardino counties combined also fell, to 5.5% from a revised 5.8% the prior month. Nonfarm employment rose by 2,200 jobs, offsetting a 300-job drop in farming.
*
Times staff writer Patrice Apodaca and correspondent Leslie Earnest in Orange County contributed to this report.
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Fewer Jobless
California’s unemployment rate fell in April. Seasonally adjusted:
April: 5.9%
Source: Employment Development Department
Still Rolling
Orange County’s economy continued to hum in April, with the jobless rate slipping to 2.7%. That’s a half-percentage point lower than the previous April. Monthly jobless rates, not seasonally adjusted:
April 2.7%
Source: Employment Development Dept.
