COUNTYWIDE : Unemployment Rate Drops for 3rd Straight Month

Ventura County’s jobless rate inched lower to 6.9% in May, the county’s third straight monthly decline, according to a report released Monday by state labor officials.

The drop in the unemployment rate was matched by an increase of 1,000 in the county’s payroll, with the majority of new jobs created in the service and food processing industries.

May’s unemployment rate in the county was down slightly from the revised April jobless rate of 7% and the March rate of 7.1%, and down sharply from the year’s 8.1% peak recorded in February.

The job picture was brighter in Ventura County in May than for all of California, labor officials said. While the county’s rate declined, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in California increased to 8.8% from 8%, the report indicated.

At the same time, the nation’s adjusted jobless rate remained unchanged in May at 7.2%.

But the unemployment rates for the county, state and nation were all higher in May than in the same month last year, indicating that the effects of the economic slowdown have lingered.

Last year, Ventura County’s May jobless rate stood at 6.1%, California’s rate was 7.7% and the national rate was 6.6%, officials said.

The monthly report also showed that Ventura County’s work force grew by 1,000 in May to a total of 249,200.

The largest area of job growth was in the service industries, with 300 new jobs in state and local government, and smaller gains reported in transportation, public utilities and wholesale trade.

While agricultural jobs declined by 300 with the growing season nearing an end for strawberries, there was an increase of 300 jobs in the food processing industry.

But the growth in county jobs was only one-third the increase reported in April, and remained 5,000 below the same period a year ago, the officials said.