Employment Development Department

Unemployment in Orange County rose to its highest level in more than 3 1/2 years in September, while job growth was the slowest since the 1982-83 recession. In another strong signal that the local economy is sputtering, the county's jobless rate rose to 3.8% last month from 3.3% in August, the state Employment Development Department reported. Last month's rate, however, was still the best of all the state's major job centers. The September rate was the highest in the county since the 4.1% jobless figure recorded in January, 1987.

Richard Kelly feels as if he's living in one of those horror movies where the monsters only appear to be dead--and then, uh-oh, they're ba-a-a-a-ck! The Venice seafood dealer last year fought and won a battle with the state Employment Development Department over a tax bill from a failed business venture. He believed he owed the state less than $3,000. The agency, because of a clerical error it took months to acknowledge, claimed the bill was nearly $20,000. Now comes the sequel.

Employers know that finding and hiring even one employee can be a trying experience. So, when Sue Taylor, human resources director at the new Sheraton Grande Torrey Pines in La Jolla, needed 320 new employees she decided to get some help. Taylor called the state's Employment Development Department, which provided Sheraton with interviewers to help screen applicants. The department also allowed Sheraton to use its downtown office for interviews.

A friend was kind enough to share with me your Orange County employment story in the Christmas edition of the Times ("Job Openings in Orange County Exceed Workers," Dec. 26). I am somewhat mystified by the allegation of employers that they can't find workers. I have been unemployed since August, except for a brief stint as a "gofer" for a school portrait studio . . . at less than living wages. Perhaps you will remember me as Suburban Editor of the old Daily News Tribune. Since I was let go there ("economic staff reductions")

The California State Employees Assn. Saturday called for the removal of the two top officials of the Employment Development Department, blaming them for failing to improve conditions that the union said have demoralized workers in numerous local offices.

The death of a state employee who had to be rushed to a hospital after a 90-minute meeting with his supervisors has renewed charges by an employee union that working conditions in many of the state Employment Development Department offices are intolerable. Edward Choice, 37, an employment program technician, died Tuesday after paramedics took him from the Long Beach EDD office to a nearby hospital Monday.

Following the pattern of the last two decades, farming was diminished further this year in Orange County, as industry, commerce and housing continued to consume cropland. As the area continued to be one of the most rapidly urbanized areas in the nation, acreage being farmed in the county fell to an estimated 32,000--half of what is was in 1965. Precise figures for 1986 are not yet available, but agricultural officials say they don't believe the downward trend in farming can be reversed.