Joblessness Stays at Record Low of 3.4% in County

Ventura County’s unemployment rate for May maintained a record low of 3.4% reached the month before, state officials said Friday.

Six hundred additional jobs were created countywide since April, when the county achieved its lowest unemployment rate since the state began keeping such records in 1983. That brought the total number of jobs countywide to 304,700 last month.

Despite the gains, the farming sector lost 200 jobs in May as harvesting began to slow and work shifted to food processing. The number of government jobs shrank by 100. But new construction, retail and manufacturing jobs more than made up for those losses, according to data from the state Employment Development Department.

Between May 2000 and last month, the county added 5,200 jobs. That is a growth rate of 1.7%--about half the number of a year ago.

“The rate of growth over the year is certainly slower than over the last two years, but we’re still showing growth,” said state labor market analyst Dee Johnson.

Other economists agree that the county is faring well, despite months of concern about the statewide energy crisis and a national economic slowdown. California’s overall unemployment rate dropped slightly in May, but at 4.5% was still measurably higher than the county’s rate. Unemployment nationally stood at 4.1%.

“Ventura County is doing exactly what we thought,” said Bill Watkins, executive director of the Economic Forecast Project at UC Santa Barbara. “It’s outperforming the state and the nation, in large part because of its biotechnology industry and its diversified base. We haven’t seen any major hits to the military or local government, which is a pretty large employer in the county.”

Some good news came this week, when state power buyers attributed a drop in electricity prices to the fact that they locked in significant amounts of power at fixed prices under long-term contracts.

But Watkins said employers shouldn’t dismiss the energy crisis just yet.

Some blackouts remain likely throughout the summer and could affect businesses. Meanwhile, he said, some damage to the state’s finances is already done.

“If the state ends up cutting back the money it sends to counties because of the energy crisis, local governments will have to find some way to replace the funds,” he said. County government is the second largest local employer, with a work force of about 7,500.

Watkins also said the Democrats’ takeover of the U.S. Senate has spurred speculation about a new round of military base closures. Naval Base Ventura County, which encompasses Point Mugu and Port Hueneme, is the largest employer in the county, with a payroll of about 17,000. But Watkins said there are other military bases across the country that are far more susceptible to cuts.