Thread: O.C. unemployment edges down to 9.6% in Aug.

O.C. unemployment edges down to 9.6% in Aug.

September 17th, 2010, 10:50 am
by Mary Ann Milbourn

Orange County's job market is still trying to find its way with unemployment dipping to 9.6% in August from a revised 9.9% in July, but private job growth remained stagnant.

The county lost 2,300 jobs in August, mostly in government, reported the state Employment Development Department today. The winding down of the Census accounted for a lot of those government jobs.

One small bright spot was that employment countywide was up by 12,000 from August of last year, the second month in a row that year-over-year jobs have increased. However, the county still has nearly 155,000 people who are counted as officially out of work.

Statewide, the picture was much gloomier with the unemployment rate increasing to 12.4% in August from 12.3% in July. Statewide unemployment has been 12% or higher for 12 consecutive months. U.S. unemployment edged up to 9.6% in August.

Esmael Adibi, a Chapman University economist, called the report disappointing, especially the lack of hiring in the private sector. He noted that the only reason the unemployment rate went down is because 6,300 people left the labor force.

"It's not indicative of strength," he said.

Anil Puri, dean of Cal State Fullerton's Mihaylo College of Business and Economics, was more encouraged by the county's numbers, citing the year-over-year increases in the labor force and jobs.

"It seems to me the employment situation is stabilizing," he said. "Businesses may not be hiring, but they are pretty much done with job cutting."

Based on conversations he's had with businesses, he thinks hiring will ramp up sooner rather than later.

"They are all waiting," Puri said. "It may be a few months but it's not a year away, maybe a quarter or two."

There were pockets of growth in Orange County. Business and professional services added 11,000 jobs in the last year. Retail has made a comeback, bringing on 3,100 new workers and leisure and hospitality is booming with 7,800 new jobs.

Those strengths, however, were offset by weakness in construction, which lost 600 more jobs in August and has declined by 6,700 in the last year. Government cut 4,600 positions.

The disappointing jobs report may just be a reflection of the summer doldrums and wariness by business about the economic recovery.

Cyndi Karapogosian, regional vice president at temp agency Robert Half International, the parent company of Accountemps, said that after a slow summer, business has picked up substantially since Labor Day and orders for Orange County placements are doing particularly well.


New solar panels at Capital Group Companies in Irvine.
"Orange County has seen a robust increase," she said.

On the accounting side, she said there is demand for payroll, collections workers and financial analysts.

"We're seeing a huge, huge increase in manufacturing and green energy and logistics is heating up," she said.

Karapogosian said the green energy jobs are concentrated in the manufacturing of solar panels as people take advantage of tax incentives to install solar energy.

Demand for logistics workers could be a good sign for the economy because they are the people who direct the transport of goods.

And some businesses are figuring out a way to operate in this economy.

Tim Denges, general manager of Industrial Metal Supply Co., said he may be hiring soon after moving the business to larger quarters in Irvine.

Industrial Metal Supply
The company, headquartered in Sun Valley in Los Angeles, sells metal of all sizes and types to everyone from hobbyists to machine shops and auto racing teams. Denges said the company decided to use the Irvine location to test a new business model.

Previously, the company kept a three-month inventory of its metal materials. Now it's got just a 30-day supply.

"We're seeing more people need metal just in time," Denges said. The concept appears to be working.

In response to an uptick in customer traffic, the store is now open a half-day on Saturday and Denges said he's trying to figure out how to add more hours, perhaps in the evening.

If he does expand operating hours, he said it's likely he'll have to add a half-dozen or so people to his current staff of 15.

Even with 9.6% unemployment, Orange County is doing better than its other Southern California counties, all of which have double-digit jobless rates. Orange County unemployment rate was sixth lowest in the state. Here's how the other Southern California counties fared in August:

Los Angeles: 13%
Riverside: 15.3%
San Bernardino: 14.2%
San Diego: 10.6%
Ventura: 11.2%
http://economy.ocregister.com/2010/09/1 ... aug/40804/

Unemployment drops to 10.6% in San Diego County

Government continued to cut jobs as healthcare and construction grew

By Dean Calbreath

Originally published September 17, 2010 at 9:21 a.m., updated September 17, 2010 at 1:02 p.m.

California jobless rate remains fairly steady
The jobless rate in San Diego County dropped to 10.6 percent in August, down from a revised record high of 10.9 percent in July, the state Employment Development Department said today.

Unemployment is now just slightly worse than it was a year ago, at 10.3 percent.

Despite the cut in unemployment, local employers cut 2,200 workers from their payrolls, reflecting the last major layoffs of temporary workers from the U.S. census as well as a loss of tourism-related jobs, which came at a time when gray weather was keeping vacationers and day-trippers away from the beaches.

The government cut 1,800 jobs - including the last large set of temporary workers attached to the 2010 U.S. census. Retailers and restaurants shed 800 jobs, as seaside businesses complained of lackluster sales.

Those job cuts were counterbalanced by the addition of 600 jobs in education, as schools began to prepare for students returning from vacation; 400 in health care, which has generated the steadiest employment growth during the recession; and 100 in construction, which is showing increasing signs of stability after five years of job cuts.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010 ... go-county/