Orange County Employment

A year ago next week, Dec. 6, Orange County's government filed bankruptcy amid widespread predictions that the county and all of California would pay a terrible price for the carelessness of this otherwise wealthy and industrious area. But as the anniversary approaches, the most evident fact about Orange County is its vibrant economy.

Continuing a steady growth trend that began 22 months ago, October employment in Orange County was up by 8,100 jobs from the prior October, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday. Employment at local businesses hit the highest level since the year-end holiday hiring peak last December, the monthly report shows. Despite the increase in local payrolls, the jobless rate--which includes people who live in Orange County but were employed elsewhere--rose slightly to 5.2% from 5.

Strong employment growth in Orange County next year should push personal incomes and retail spending to their highest levels since the economy began tumbling with the 1990 recession, economists at Cal State Fullerton said Tuesday. "The best news for the coming year is that the worst is behind us," Anil Puri, head of the state university's economics department, said in unveiling the school's fourth annual Orange County economic forecast.

Bolstered by a second consecutive month of modest job growth, Orange County's unemployment rate dropped to 5.1% in September from 5.5% in August. Last month's jobless count was 69,300, the lowest since March. A year earlier, the county's jobless rate was 6% and state labor analysts estimated that almost 80,000 county residents were without work.

The air in the neighborhood around Blue Gum and Miraloma avenues is a fragrant stew. The tang of paints and resins blends with the odors of machine oil, rubber, plastic, fresh-cut wood and hot metal to create a husky perfume that lets you know a large manufacturing complex is just around the corner. It is a perfume that some have suggested is fast dissipating in Orange County, but Aaron Bann would disagree.

Orange County's jobless rate fell to 5.4% in August from a revised 6% in July, as the local economy sustained its modest recovery by adding 1,200 jobs last month. The report Friday by the state's Employment Development Department showed the county gained jobs last month in services, construction, retail trade and manufacturing. These more than offset seasonal payroll cuts in government.

Despite the many financial problems connected with Orange County's bankruptcy, a Chapman University report Tuesday maintained that the county's economic recovery and job expansion will continue this year, albeit scaled back. In their midyear economic report, Chapman researchers did predict drops in housing activity and retail sales.

It's hard to keep count, but free-lance software engineer Mark Bergman figures he has received 50 computer-related contract offers that he first learned about while using on-line services over the past decade. Like many professionals in high-tech fields, Bergman finds it second nature to look for job leads on the Internet, the computer network linking millions of users worldwide.

Orange County's bankruptcy has dealt a stunning blow to small companies that were just beginning to recover from the recession, and it threatens to stall what could have been a growth spurt, according to a UCI survey released Tuesday. Particularly for small, privately held firms such as construction companies and retailers, Orange County is now considered a less attractive area in which to do business, UCI's annual Orange County Executive Survey found.