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SFV Unemployment Claims Hit Record Low

12/13/2005: California State University Northridge researchers report that the Valley’s economy turned in a record low Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims number in October as further evidence that the Valley’s economy is on a strong growth path. Unemployment insurance claims in the Valley fell to a record low of 12,961 claims according to figures released by the California Employment Development Department and assembled by the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at Northridge.

Daniel Blake, director of the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at Northridge said that “Changes in the number of UI claims are general indicative of changes in unemployment” and added that “this record low claims numbers show that the Valley economy is continuing to expand its job base and absorb people from the unemployment rolls.”

The record low October claims number comes on the heels of a rapid downward movement in UI claims in the Valley that began in the first quarter of 2004. In October, the UI claims number fell below the record low set during the Valley’s steady economic recovery during the 1995-2000 period. The previous record low UI claims number of 13,526 was achieved in November 2000, after a prolonged economic recovery from the early 1990s recession, and before the 2001 recession took hold. Blake said that “the rapid drop in claims has been spectacular. In the last seven quarters, the Valley economy has shed as much unemployment as it did during the entire six years of the last recovery.”

Blake said that the low level of UI claims indicates that the Valley economy is on track to complete 2005 with a job growth rate near the 1.7 percent job growth forecasted by the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center in May.

The Employment Development Department began releasing monthly claims numbers for small geographic areas in January 1994 and the Economic Research Center compiles the total UI claims numbers for the San Fernando Valley, which the Center defines as stretching from Glendale to Calabasas, and from Mulholland Drive to the northern edges of Sylmar.

New Data Series on Taxable Retail Sales

12/3/2005: The Center released a new data series on Taxable Retail Sales in the San Fernando Valley, including all Valley cities and the LA portion of the Valley, Los Angeles County, and California. Each area includes the nine major sectors of retail: Apparel Stores, General Merchandise, Food Stores, Eating & Drinking Places, Home Furnishments & Appliances, Building Materials and Farm Implement Dealers, Auto Dealers & Auto Supplies, Service Stations, and Other Retail Stores.

Since the passage of Bill AB2207, Los Angeles City has begun to provide statistical information for the Los Angeles portion of the San Fernando Valley, including the Taxable Retail Sales Data. The Board of Equalization provides the retail data for the five other cities in the Valley, County, and State. Click here to view the DATA in excel format.

17th Annual VICA Conference

10/28/2005: The San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center released its 8th annual SFV Economic Report at the VICA 17th annual Business Forecast Conference. Dr. Blake presented an optimistic picture of the Valley economy along with an update of the spring Economic Forecast. Presenting with Dr. Blake was Larry Kosmont from Kosmont Industries and Rohit Shukla, from Larta.