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Local job creation lags last year's(Orange County Register, The (CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Oct. 21--Job creation in Orange County remains slower than last year, with growing sectors like professional services and hospitality continuing to compensate for weakness in the finance industry, according to a state report out Friday. Orange County employers added jobs at a 1.1 percent annual rate in the 12 months through September, slightly better than in previous months but slower than the county's 2.3 percent pace of job creation last year, the Employment Development Department said. Orange County's unemployment rate was 3.4 percent in September, down from 3.6 percent in August and below the year-earlier estimate of 3.7 percent, the department said. Over the past 12 months, nonfarm employment has increased by 16,300 jobs in Orange County, bringing the total to 1,511,400. The biggest growth has been in professional and business services, which added 7,700 jobs, or 2.9 percent in the past 12 months. The sector includes legal and accounting firms, but about 60 percent of the growth was in a sub-category called "administrative and support services," which includes temporary-staffing firms. Leisure and hospitality added 4,000 jobs, a growth rate of 2.4 percent, with 60 percent of that in accommodation and food service. The financial activities sector has shed 1,500 jobs, a drop of 1.1 percent, in the past 12 months as mortgage firms have struggled amid a cooling housing market. A sub-category called "activities related to credit intermediation," which includes mortgage brokers, is down 11.5 percent, or 1,600 jobs, over the same period. At lenders that also offer banking services, however, employment is up by 600, or 3.6 percent, in the past 12 months. "Overall, the picture is weaker job creation, and this should continue for the rest of this year and well into next year," said Esmael Adibi, director of the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University in Orange. The real estate slowdown could begin to push the unemployment rate up, as self-employed individuals such as some real estate and mortgage brokers and small contractors can't find work, Adibi said. Between August and September, the government posted the largest growth in employment, adding 3,100 jobs as schools restaffed after the summer break. Educational and health services added 1,700 jobs in the month, with most of that also related to the resumption of classes. The leisure and hospitality industry shed 2,100 jobs in September, as the summer tourism season came to an end. Overall, county employers added 4,900 nonfarm jobs in September. Over the past 12 months, Orange County's job growth of 1.1 percent has lagged California, at 1.2 percent, and the nation, at 1.3 percent. However, the county's unemployment rate of 3.4 percent remains lower than the state's 4.8 percent and the nation's 4.6 percent. To see more of The Orange County Register, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ocregister.com. Copyright (c) 2006, The Orange County Register, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |