County Jobless Rate Climbs in July

Ventura County job growth ground to a halt last month and unemployment rose sharply as a slow march toward economic recovery stalled, new state figures show.

A loss of 2,400 farm jobs, reflecting a typical decline at the end of the harvest season, drove county employment down to 303,300, compared with a historic high of 308,500 two months earlier. It also pushed local joblessness up to 5.3%, compared with 4.8% in June and January’s peak of 5.5%.

California’s unemployment rate in July was 6.6% and the U.S. rate was 6.0%, without seasonal adjustments.

Mark Schniepp, director of California Economic Forecast in Santa Barbara, said Ventura County is holding steady on its path toward full economic health.

July’s jobless rate was the second lowest for the month in the last decade.

“In Ventura County, the numbers are not as robust as we thought they’d be, but they’re not that far out of line,” Schniepp said. “We don’t see a double-dip recession. We just need to relax. We’re used to having everything all at once. But just be patient.”

Except for agriculture, government was the only employment sector to lose jobs last month.

Government employment declined by 900 jobs, while construction grew by 300, retail by 200 and transportation and public utilities by 100.

The 5.3% unemployment rate for July compares with 5.0% a year ago, as the recession was beginning and before the Sept. 11 attacks sent the economy into a tailspin. The number of jobless workers rose by 1,000 from a year ago to 22,600. Total jobs in the county dropped by 700 in the same period.

Of local cities, the three with the most farm worker residents had the highest jobless rates: 8.4% in Santa Paula, 7.5% in Oxnard and 7.3% in Fillmore.

The white-collar east county had the lowest rate, with Moorpark the lowest at 4.0%. Ojai, where one-fifth of the residents are senior citizens, had a 2.7% rate.

Ventura County’s unemployment rate was tied for 17th best of 58 counties in the state, and on par with the rest of Southern California, which has weathered the recession far better than the Bay Area.

Los Angeles County had a jobless rate of 7.3% in July and Santa Barbara County’s was 3.5%.