Jobs Sprout to Keep May’s Unemployment a Firm 5.5%

White-collar and blue-collar jobs continue to pop up like crocuses in May, maintaining Ventura County’s unemployment rate at a healthy 5.5%, the lowest level in seven years.

A report released Friday by the State Employment Development Department shows the county’s jobless rate--which dropped dramatically in March and inched even lower in April--remained firm in May.

Nonfarm payrolls, considered a key indicator of the overall job market, grew by 2.3%. In May, the county added 1,500 nonfarm jobs.

Meanwhile, job sectors that tend to mirror trends in the overall economy, such as construction and manufacturing, continued a steady climb upward.

“Across the board, it looks like a solid, healthy report,” said UC Santa Barbara economist Mark Schniepp, who tracks the Ventura County economy. “More of the same--which is good.”

Ventura County’s improving job figures are in step with state and national trends. California’s jobless rate fell to 6% last month. The national unemployment rate stands at 4.7%.

Industries that have led the local job market’s recovery continued to expand in May, the state report showed.

Teaching jobs increased by 300 last month, with the demand for teachers heightened around the state by California’s class-size reduction initiative.

Jobs in retail trade have increased by 1,400 in the past year. Positions in finance, real estate and insurance increased by 400 in May.

Meanwhile, 400 manufacturing jobs and 100 construction jobs were filled last month.

“A lot of companies are finding they laid off too many people [during the recession], and their production levels are coming back up,” said Doug Perron, owner of the labor market research firm Tiatek). “They’re finding the demands for goods and services have increased dramatically, and they have to hire more people.”

Indeed, local job placement agencies report that they are having a tough time recruiting qualified workers for skilled jobs.

“Good people are very hard to find,” said Jennifer Bowman of Olsten Staffing Services in Thousand Oaks.

Bowman said the number of people seeking jobs through her office has dropped by about half recently, with only 20 to 30 prospective employees applying each week. The company focuses on administrative, clerical and accounting jobs.

UC Santa Barbara’s Schniepp said the new jobless numbers are further evidence the economy has entered a rare era of growth in which virtually all economic indicators are positive. “Low inflation. Low unemployment. Good investment [in the stock market],” he said. “We really haven’t seen this since the 1960s.”

But Perron noted that unemployment reports do not reflect the changes in corporate America that continue to affect workers.

The broadly defined services sector continues to grow, adding 300 jobs last month, Perron noted. The services sector includes all new temporary jobs.

“The shift toward temporary help, it’s a ‘90s trend,” Perron said. “Companies are trying hard to bring down the cost of employees.”

Farm payrolls fell by 400 last month, a decline that officials said was caused in part by a slump in the strawberry market brought on by the recent hepatitis scare.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Ventura County Jobless Rate

May, 1997: 5.5%

Annual Rates

1997: 6.6%

1996: 7.1%

1995: 7.5%

1994: 7.8%

Source: California Employment Development Department