Year’s Unemployment Rate Lowest in 3 Decades

Unemployment in Ventura County fell to 4.1% in December, capping a year that had the lowest number of out-of-work people on average in at least three decades.

Economist Mark Schniepp, director of the California Economic Forecast Project, said the county’s average unemployment rate for 2000 was 4.5%, compared with 4.8% for all of 1999.

In addition to the low unemployment rate, Ventura County posted a 2.2% job growth rate throughout the year, which was among the best in Southern California, said Schniepp, who specializes in the local economy.

“Ventura County had the fastest rate in Southern California except for the inland counties of San Bernardino and Riverside,” said Schniepp, adding that the annual unemployment rate has not been as low since 1969.

The county’s December jobless figure was higher than the national unemployment rate of 3.7% but surpassed California’s rate of 4.3%.

Much of this area’s job growth is attributed to new positions that opened in manufacturing, government, education and the retail sector during the peak holiday season, said Dee Johnson, a labor market analyst with the state’s Employment Development Department, which prepares the monthly unemployment report.

The level of job creation in other industries either stayed the same or fell in December compared with the previous month, the state report indicated.

The number of jobs in the insurance, finance and real estate industries remained unchanged. The construction industry saw a small decline in job growth of about 100 jobs.

The lowest level of unemployment occurred in April, when it stood at a rate at 3.5%, which is a typical annual trend, Johnson said.

The county added 6,300 jobs between December 1999 and December 2000.

Of that number, manufacturing posted the highest gain with 1,500 jobs, according to the report.

Some of the county’s largest employers, including Amgen in Thousand Oaks and Technicolor in Camarillo, contributed to the manufacturing job growth, Schniepp added.

The number of people in Ventura County looking for work was down from 4.7% in November and 4.3% in December 1999. There were 393,300 jobs in the county in December 2000, up 12,400 from the previous December.

Judging from previous elections, the local job picture is not expected to change much after the Bush administration takes over Jan. 20, Schniepp said.

“There is not much influence at the federal level,” Schniepp said. “Unless there is a dramatic change, such as the closing of a military base or the closing down of all biotechnology shops.”

Schniepp said he does not expect the low unemployment rate to continue through the year. Locally, a lack of available housing and a growing national sense that the economy is slowing are two indicators that unemployment may rise in 2001.

In contrast, Johnson said she considers the job growth rate in nearly all industries as a stable indicator for the local economy.

“I feel the economy in this county is in very healthy shape,” she said.