Orange County employment was basically in a holding pattern in August with employers cutting 5,200 jobs, but mostly in local education where workers are temporarily off for summer vacation, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday.
The county, however, continues to create jobs on a year-over-year basis, with 29,000 more workers on payrolls now than a year ago.
Orange County employers were in a holding pattern in August as the unemployment rate dipped to 7.7%.
DAVID GOLDMAN, AP
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Orange County's unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent in August from 7.9 percent in July, but that was mostly due to 14,500 "discouraged workers" giving up on their job hunt and leaving the workforce.
Statewide, employers added 12,000 workers in August, well off May's sizzling pace of 45,000 new hires. California, however, has added nearly 300,000 jobs in the last year, tops in the country and well ahead of No. 2 Texas with 260,000.
But unemployment statewide was 10.6 percent ? third highest in the country ? and only looks good compared to the peak months in the latter half of 2010 when the jobless rate was 12.4 percent and nearly 2.3 million Californians were out of jobs. There were 2 million unemployed in August.
The tepid hiring in August was in line with the nationwide unemployment report, which showed only 96,000 jobs created. The nation needs at least 125,000 new jobs a month just to keep up with population growth. The U.S. unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in August.
"The brightest thing out of the report is that year-over-year there is still job creation in terms of payroll," said Esmael Adibi, a Chapman University economist, of Orange County's numbers.
He noted that the county data for summer months like July and August are notoriously erratic because they are not adjusted for the ups-and-downs of seasonal hiring like the U.S. numbers are. EDD data shows Orange County lost just under 3,000 jobs on average from July to August since 2000 and has seen job losses in each of the last six July-August periods.
A better comparison is the year-over-year pace of growth which, at 2.1 percent, suggests a good if not great improvement in the job market.
Wallace Walrod, chief economic advisor for the Orange County Business Council, also played down the decline in August jobs.
"The local economy is doing pretty well," he said, especially in the light of the economic slowdown in the rest of the world.
One positive sign was the 1,900 construction jobs created in August. Walrod said that sector should get an additional boost as construction of the new Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) gets underway. About 5,000 jobs are expected to be created while the new transportation hub near the Honda Center and Anaheim Stadium is being built.
Walrod noted financial services also are going through a stealth recovery with 4,700 new local workers hired in the last year, a notable improvement after the dark days of the mortgage meltdown that began in 2007.
"For a long time that (employment) number was in the red," he said.
Temporary employment also has been on the upswing, with 3,000 new workers added in the last year. Temp work is often a harbinger of permanent hiring.
"Business is better than it was," said Kim Megonigal, chief executive of Irvine-based Kimco Staffing Services.
Still it is all relative compared to the peak in 2006.
"We've had 10 percent growth, but we're looking for 40 percent on top of it to get back to '06," he said.
He blamed uncertainty surrounding the election as well as debt woes in Europe, the China slowdown and worries about the end of the Bush-era tax cuts and potential deep federal budget cuts Jan. 1.
Megonigal said the best news may be that he and other employers are spending on IT and other infrastructure in anticipation of a turnaround. That spending, he said, should lead to hiring.
Chris Strom, who oversees the Orange County Business Service Center and One-Stop Center in Buena Park, said employers are hiring.
Just in the past few weeks, the center has had a hiring fair for 80 jobs at the new Marshall's, which will open at the Placentia Town Center Oct. 18. AT&T is also adding workers for its retail stores. And that doesn't count the expected holiday hiring that will begin at many retailers in October.
Still, she says there remains a big demand for jobs.
Strom noted thousands of local workers were cut from unemployment benefits Sept. 1, after Congress reduced the number of weeks they could collect extended jobless benefits.
"A lot of people also are looking for higher wages or for additional work," Strom said.
Contact the writer: 714-796-3646 or mmilbourn@ocregister.com
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Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/jobs-372335-august-year.html
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