Jobless Rate Hits Lowest Point Since Last May : Unemployment: March’s 7.0% mark is a significant decrease from February’s 8.1%. Some officials credit better weather; others the economy.

Ventura County’s jobless rate dropped to 7.0% in March, the lowest level in nearly a year, led by a surge of hirings in agriculture and construction, state labor officials said Wednesday.

Although some officials attributed the decline in joblessness to the return of good weather after the winter’s storms, others said they saw signs of a recovering economy.

“We’re seeing a lot more job listings,” said Patricia Baldoni, a state Employment Development Department supervisor in Simi Valley.

Baldoni said she has noticed an increase in restaurant, hotel and retail jobs, as well as a monthly surge in companies hiring telephone sales agents, computer programmers and computer analysts in eastern Ventura County.

“Businesses are a little more optimistic,” she said. “I think companies are not waiting to see what happens, but taking some initiative to see where they can make money.”

The county’s jobless rate in March was more than a full point lower than the 8.1% revised unemployment rate for February, the preliminary state figures showed.

It was the lowest rate in the county since last May, when unemployment fell to 6.1% during a brief economic recovery that later foundered. And county unemployment was lower than the statewide rate of 8.7% and the national rate of 7.7% for the month.

But the improvement in March did not match the county’s 6.8% jobless rate posted for March, 1991, indicating that the economy has shown no significant, long-term improvement.

The number of people without work in March in Ventura County declined to 26,700 from 30,600 the month before, despite an increase of 2,000 in the county’s work force, according to the Employment Development Department report.

Behind the sharp drop in unemployment was the creation of 5,900 jobs, many of them seasonal, which increased the number of employed in the county to 352,300.

But two-thirds of the new jobs were reported in agriculture, as growers rushed to hire pickers to harvest citrus crops and strawberry fields, said area agricultural representatives.

“When we had all those rains, we sat quiet,” said Don Reeder of Pro-Ag, a firm that manages citrus orchards. “When the rain stopped, we had all the fruit that had to be picked.”

Ralph Ramos, a farm labor contractor with Pacific Labor Services of Oxnard, said the rains also kept strawberry workers out of the fields. “In January and February, the rain definitely had us standing down,” Ramos said. He predicted that demand for farm labor will drop again as the strawberry and celery seasons wind down in July.

Construction jobs also increased substantially in March, as improving weather allowed contractors to complete projects delayed by heavy winter rains. Employers reported hiring 500 construction workers during March, bringing the county total to 10,800, according to the state report.

Even so, the construction industry still lagged behind the same period in 1991, when it employed 12,000.

Although significant, the job gains in March were largely reported in the two industries hardest hit by the wet weather, said Annette Sparks, the manager of the Employment Development Department in south Oxnard.

“Historically in Ventura County, unemployment claims decrease in February, March and April, and then increase again near the end of June,” Sparks said.

Job increases appeared to be more long lasting in east Ventura County, where the economy is less dependent on farming and construction, Baldoni said.

Marshall Milligan, president of Ventura-based Bank of A. Levy, also noted an upturn in the mood of area business leaders, and said he expected to see a slow but sustained recovery.

“The feeling is that we’re past the bottom (of the recession),” Milligan said. “Now that the downside appears to be limited, we can start to plan for the future.”