Seasonal Lull Pushes Up Jobless Rate to 6% in July

A seasonal lull in the agriculture industry, combined with a significant jump in the number of new unemployed residents, sent Ventura County’s jobless rate to 6% in July.

That is the highest monthly rate in the county since January 1998 and the highest for the month of July since 1997. It’s also a sizable increase from June’s 4.5% rate and exceeds both the state’s 5.4% figure and the national average of 4.2%.

Still, the spike is not cause for alarm, because the loss of jobs is temporary, said Dee Johnson, a state labor market analyst.

Of 5,900 jobs lost in the county, 4,300 were in the farming sector and were mostly seasonal, according to statistics from the state Economic Development Department. Other reductions included teaching jobs vacant during summer vacation and a dip in food manufacturing work.

“We’re not in that red hot growth period we were in for a couple of years, but I still see the nonfarm sectors of the economy growing steadily,” Johnson said.

Construction jobs grew by 400 between June and July. Transportation, public utilities and trade jobs each rose by 100. Mining, finance, insurance and real estate were unchanged.

But at 1.8%, nonfarm jobs are growing at the lowest annual rate in three years, indicating a gradual brake on the creation of new jobs, said Mark Schniepp, director of the California Economic Forecast Project.

“The slowdown in the national economy is certainly starting to affect the economy in Ventura County,” he said.

A major factor in July’s drop appears to be the sudden influx of 5,900 county residents into the regional work force. That is a striking contrast to the 300 residents who entered the work force between May and June.

It wasn’t immediately clear who comprised this new pool of potential workers or why they didn’t have jobs.

“It might account for students looking for work during the summer,” Johnson said. “It could also be residents who were working in other counties but got laid off.”

About 387,000 Ventura County residents were employed last month, according to the report. About 24,500 were unemployed.

Compared with July of last year, employment in the county is up by 5,600 jobs overall, mostly in nonfarming sectors. Jobs in business and other services are up 1,900 from a year ago.

There are 600 new retail jobs, 500 wholesale and about 900 more construction slots than a year ago. Government jobs were down 200 from last summer. Defense jobs in the county are continuing to decline, while electronic equipment manufacturing jobs continue to increase, Schniepp said.