Job Market

Ventura County's lackluster job market showed little improvement in October. The unemployment rate was 9.3%, down just slightly from 9.4% in September and exactly the same as a year earlier. The county has lost 2,900 non-agricultural jobs in the past year, according to the state Employment Development Department. About half the losses were in manufacturing. In all, there are 356,000 employed workers in the county and 36,400 who are out of work, the department reported.

As quarterly corporate earnings season winds down, the spotlight will shift to government data this week as investors scrutinize reports for signs of improvement in the job market and other evidence of economic strengthening. Peter Cardillo, chief strategist at Global Partners Securities Inc., said the most important data would be the October employment report, due Friday from the Labor Department.

Mirroring a national employment trend that places increased value on educated workers, Ventura County job seekers will need to be better skilled in specialized trades and computer operations if they hope to land stable, well-paying jobs, according to a report released Thursday. "What this is telling us is that workers are going to need to have more education in general and more skills if they want a job," said Philip Bohan, planning manager for the county's Workforce Development Division.

The Thomas Staffing survey also knocked down a widely held perception that the use of alternative work arrangements such as flex-time, job sharing and telecommuting have become commonplace. In its study, 80% of Southern California companies said they don't offer such alternative work schedules for their employees. Slack believes that will soon change. The tightening job market will force employers to adopt more innovative approaches to attract and retain workers, he said.

A new national study has found that the job market for graduates of master's level health administration programs grew stronger between 1979 and 1983, with entry-level salaries rising 41% during the period.

Ventura County will experience moderate growth in the job market during the first three months of next year, according to a survey released by Manpower Inc. In the survey, done quarterly by the temporary-employment agency, 26% of county employers responding said they expect to increase their work force in the early part of next year, while 10% expect to reduce staffing.

Kids seeking summer jobs haven't had it this good in a generation. With the unemployment rate at 4.3%, a 28-year low, the market for ambitious young workers is "up and booming," said Adele Scheele of Cal State Northridge's Career Center. "Jobs are up in every area." Debt Reduction The job market may be hot, but some jobs always pay more than others--probably the ones you didn't prepare for in school.

How does a UCLA graduate with a mile-long resume descend from the security of a $75,000-a-year job into the nightmare of a mortgage foreclosure, bankruptcy and welfare in less than four years? Just ask Jessica Fish, a Granada Hills single mother who has returned from the abyss and lived to tell about it. "I was a supermom and super-professional who had been self-supporting since junior high," said the longtime Great Western Bank multimedia specialist.

"There are now too many musicians in San Francisco, more than enough to fill all the 'jobs.' What we need is work, not musicians. Stay away from San Francisco. You will find it cheaper in the end." Notice signed "By order, Board of Directors, Local #6, San Francisco" and posted in the American Musician in 1898. * ANYONE who supposes that American musicians have a tough time finding jobs compared with their forebears obviously hasn't looked into the matter.