State Economy Steams Along; Jobless Rate at 7-Year Low

California’s economy continued its march down the comeback trail, adding about 26,000 jobs in July across most industries and slicing the state’s unemployment rate to a seven-year low of 6.1% from a revised 6.3% in June, officials said Friday.

“It was a very good month for the state again,” said Ted Gibson, economist for the state Department of Finance. California is on track to add nearly 400,000 jobs this year and to see the unemployment rate dip below 6% in the fall, he said.

July’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since September 1990, according to the California Economic Development Department.

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 4.8% in July from 5.0% in June.

For the state, July was also the 21st consecutive month in which payroll employment hit a record high, reaching 13,154,500 jobs. California has added 1.13 million jobs since May 1993, the lowest point of the state’s recession.

Los Angeles County, which had struggled to join the expansion, enjoyed another strong month, posting a seasonally adjusted jobless rate of 6.6%, down from 6.9% the month before.

Economists were encouraged by the broad range of industries that are now participating in the jobs party.

“Nearly every major sector of the economy gained jobs in this report,” said Tom Lieser, associate director of the UCLA Anderson Business Forecast.

Only nondurable-goods manufacturing lost ground in July, down 4,100 jobs, but most of that was due to the highly seasonal food-processing sector.

Most of the job growth came from the services sector, which added 13,600 jobs during the month, primarily in business services.

Construction employment rose by 5,900 jobs in July, and an additional 2,000 jobs were tallied in finance, insurance and real estate.

Manufacturing created 1,900 jobs during the month. Retail and wholesale trade added 1,700 jobs.

Because of summer vacation, a seasonal decline continued in private educational services.

Since July 1996, nonfarm payroll employment in California has grown by 361,500 jobs, up 2.8%. In July 1996, California’s unemployment rate was 7.1%.

“It’s a very diverse and certainly healthy economy right now,” Lieser said.

He described the state as a virtual “quilt” of economies, with some rebounding well, including Los Angeles and Orange counties and Silicon Valley, but others, such as Fresno, lagging.

Los Angeles County’s nonfarm employment of 3,847,000 in July is creeping ever closer to the pre-recession peak in December 1989 of 4,192,000, not adjusted for seasonal factors, said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

A year ago, the estimated unemployment rate for Los Angeles County was 8.3%, seasonally adjusted.

Since July 1996, 62,800 new nonfarm jobs have been created in the county, involving most industries.

“What we’re seeing is good, solid employment growth,” Kyser said. “This is what we like--steady and boring.”

Elsewhere in Southern California, where numbers are not adjusted for seasonal trends:

Orange County’s jobless rate went up slightly to 3.6% from 3.4% in June.

Ventura County’s unemployment rate hit 7.5% in July, up from 5.9% in June.

The Riverside-San Bernardino area saw unemployment reach 8% in July from 7% in June.

San Diego County’s jobless rate inched up to 4.6% from 4.5% in June.

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Fewer Jobless

California’s unemployment rate continued to decline in July. The state’s jobless rate, seasonally adjusted: 6.1%

Source: Labor Department