Jobless Report Shows Overall Stability but Decline in Key Sectors : Economy: County rate rises slightly to 8.9%. High-paying technology, manufacturing are weak areas.

Although Ventura County’s unemployment rate remained stable in September, analysts said Friday that continued losses in high-paying fields such as manufacturing and technology are hampering the region’s economic recovery.

The unemployment rate for September was 8.9%, according to a report released Friday by the state employment department, only a minimal increase from August’s 8.8% rate.

Economists said they were cheered by the relative stability of employment but added that the report highlighted a troubling decline in job areas once considered to have high growth potential for the county.

The county has lost 1,500 jobs in high technology and manufacturing since September, 1993.

“They are the higher-paying jobs,” said Mark Schniepp, an economist with the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project. “They tend to pay $50,000 per worker on average. That’s about double the average income figure for all other workers.”

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Just last Thursday, a Simi Valley computer-software company announced that it will relocate to offices in Ohio and Colorado by the end of the year, leaving 120 employees with the choice of moving or being laid off.

“We have calculated that any costs associated with the closure will be more than offset by the savings that will accrue from the elimination of the California facility,” a Wangtek spokesman said.

Wangtek began to scale back production at the Simi Valley location about two years ago, shrinking from more than 300 employees to 120. Manufacturing facilities were moved to Puerto Rico and Singapore, the spokesman said.

But even as economists expressed concern over manufacturing losses, they pointed out that last September’s unemployment rate of 9.6% was far higher.

The 8.9% figure represents 237,400 jobs countywide, up from 235,800 in August. A total of 32,900 residents are seeking work. The state jobless rate for September is 8.2%, and the national rate is 5.6%.

“We might be seeing some stability” in Ventura County, Schniepp said. “When we compare on a year-to-year basis, we seem to be approaching a leveling-off of job loss. It seems to be abating.”

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Gains in other areas, particularly construction and retail, are responsible for the abatement in overall job losses, Schniepp said. The construction trade grew by 900 jobs and retail gained 400 jobs since September, 1993, according to the report.

While repairs after the Jan. 17 earthquake probably created construction opportunities, Schniepp said development of the Oxnard Factory Outlet Mall and the retail area around it is also responsible for gains in both trades.

“We know Oxnard is having a very good year,” he said. “They’re really coming back in a pronounced fashion.”

Bruce DeVine, chief economist with the Southern California Assn. of Governments, is encouraged by the stability of the county’s employment levels.

“Numbers suggest that you’re not losing jobs anymore,” DeVine said. “I look at that as a bellwether sign that we’ve stopped declining. I just think this is a signal that the recession is over.”

The report also noted a gain of 800 jobs between August and September in agriculture, coinciding with the fall planting season for strawberries.