Jobs Situation Brightening

The job outlook in Ventura County has brightened considerably, according to a state employment official and a quarterly survey of employers’ hiring plans.

The survey, conducted by the temporary help firm Manpower Inc., shows that Ventura County employers have sharply stepped up their expansion plans, with fully half of the county’s businesses planning to enlarge their work forces during the second quarter.

And Larry Kennedy, manager of the Simi Valley office of the state Employment Development Department, is so encouraged that he declares: “As far as job orders are concerned, I’m ready to say the recession is over.”

The Manpower study, conducted among 45 of the county’s largest employers, shows that 50% of the businesses plan to increase their work forces during April, May and June. In comparison, only 7% expect to cut payrolls while 40% foresee no change and 3% are uncertain.

This contrasts sharply with the first three months of this year, when 20% of the companies planned to increase their payrolls while 30% expected cutbacks. In last year’s second quarter, a mere 3% of the county’s employers had hiring plans while 20% anticipated reductions.

Linda Hawkins, an administrator in Manpower’s Ventura office, said the current surge of optimism is especially strong in the clerical and data-processing fields. “We also found things looking up in manufacturing, transportation and public utilities,” she added. She noted, however, that “construction and retailing in the county still appear to be weak.”

Kennedy, whose employment office has seen numerous residents of eastern Ventura County lose their jobs in aerospace and electronics, said his unit received 140 job requests from employers during February, a 40% increase over an average of 100 a month in the past two years.

“That’s a key indicator. Also, new claims for jobless benefits fell more than 10% in February. They dropped to 1,754 from 1,922 in January.”

Another encouraging sign, Kennedy said, is that the Simi Valley office’s self-help group, Opportunities for Professional Employment Network, or OPEN, found jobs for 40 of its members during February--nearly three times the group’s success rate over the past two years.

Kennedy cautioned, however, that it may be a while before California’s job market as a whole reflects an improving economy.

“As a recession ends, there’s almost always a lag between the time when employers start gearing up for a recovery and when they start hiring again. They usually invest in new equipment before they add to the payroll.”

By next summer, the job picture in the eastern section of the county may be even brighter. Bugle Boy Industries, a clothing manufacturer, plans to hire as many as 300 workers when it expands its Simi Valley distribution center. Still, this will only partially offset the loss of hundreds of jobs in the western county due to the shutdown of Oxnard’s Abex Aerospace.