County’s Jobless Rate Up to 4.8%

Ventura County’s unemployment rate rose to 4.8% in July, but experts said the hike was purely seasonal and did not indicate a weakening economy.

Overall, there were 4,100 fewer jobs countywide in July than the previous month, according to a report released Friday by the state Employment Development Department.

That decline included 3,100 farming jobs and 1,000 government jobs, mostly school employees off work until classes resume in the fall.

Manufacturing jobs were down by 300 and service jobs were down 200. But a gain of 400 jobs in construction and 100 in the trade sector made up for those losses.

The county’s economy was growing at an annual rate of 2.4%, a decidedly slower pace than the boom years of the late 1990s but consistent with the more moderate pace of recent months.

Countywide, there were 300,300 jobs, up 7,000 from a year ago.

“Things aren’t grinding to a halt by any means, they’re just slowing to a rational and sustainable pace,” said Mark Schniepp of the California Economic Forecast Project.

“There really isn’t any large issue out there facing Ventura County that could conceivably plunge it to a vulnerable position any time soon,” he said.

The county’s unemployment rate was noticeably higher than the 4.1% posted in June. But it was a full percentage point lower than its rate one year earlier, a more valid comparison because of seasonal patterns, state labor market analyst Dee Johnson said.

Unemployment statewide was at 5.3% in July, compared with 5.4% a year earlier. The jobless rate nationally was 4.7%, compared with 4.2% a year earlier.