Imperial County jobless rate up 4 percent By ERIC GALVAN, Staff Writer
Monday, August 20, 2007 10:48 PM PDT
A nearly 4 percent increase in the local unemployment rate for July is directly linked to seasonal jobs in Imperial County, an Employment Development Department official said.
Information released last week shows the county’s unemployment rate increased from 16.6 percent in June to 20.2 percent in July.
“That is a typical thing,” said Imperial County EDD field office manager Norma Jauregui, “because we have very little employment in the agriculture (industry) in the month of July.”
Statistics show the farming industry had a drop in employment of 16.9 percent from June to July. There were 12,400 people employed in agriculture-related fields in June and only 10,300 in July.
The local government sector also saw a decrease in employment, dropping from 14,100 employees to 12,400, or 12.1 percent.
The number increase from June to July has become a trend locally as the jump is typically around 4 percent, according to statistics.
“It’s been like that for many, many years throughout the months of June, July and August,” Jauregui said. “It’s one of the, if not the, highest in the state.”
But Jauregui said it’s toward the end of September that the unemployment rate starts to decrease.
Tim Kelley, president/chief executive officer of the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corp., said what’s important to note is the increased job creation throughout the county, which rose from 54,900 in July 2006 to 55,800 in July this year.
“As far as job creation goes, our rate is pretty good,” Kelley said. “But for every job we create, one person moves here, so that’s why we see a stagnation.
“Even though we’ve had an increase in jobs, more and more people are moving here,” he said. “I think 20 percent is high, but come winter time, we could see that drop and we may see all-time lows.”
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jsyi wrote on Aug 21, 2007 7:02 AM: