Joblessness strikes deep in Orange Belt

Jobless rates may say a lot about the state of the local economy, but the fluctuating figures and shifting trends leave a lot to say about how far-reaching the problem really is.

The latest figures released by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) indicate that unemployment in Tulare County, at 15.1 percent in May, slightly improved from 16.3 percent in April.

The current rate, however, tops the list as the highest rate of unemployment Tulare County has seen in more than a decade for the same month.

EDD data show Porterville’s jobless rate lingered at 13.1 percent in May, with 3,000 people out of a job from a labor force of 22,000, while East Porterville’s rate was 20.8 percent with 800 jobless from a labor force of 4,000. Lindsay’s rate was 18.3 with 1,000 out of work, but it is worst in rural areas. The state reported that Terra Bella had a jobless rate of 38.4 percent and Strathmore was 21.6 percent.

“The local economy is in a lot of trouble as is much of the nation,” professor of political science and economics at Porterville College, Jeff Keele, said.

According to Keele, contributing to the area’s dire condition are the ongoing recession and long-term problems common in rural areas which he says are based on a lack of producing businesses and a lack of infrastructure.

Porterville, he said, needs a mix of different industries, which involves enticing people to invest and bring business here.

“In general, the urban area does better than the rural because of the investment to support lots of industries rural areas may not have the infrastructure for,” Keele said.

Additionally, he said that high rates of unemployment correlate with statistics that show the educational attainment of the local population is not very high and “census data tells us that over they years, for whatever reason, we don’t have very much formal education.”

“Beyond the educational issues, our economy is fundamentally an ag-based economy and that’s a good thing. But a strictly ag-based economy is where most labor is. It doesn’t get a lot of pay and it’s seasonal.”

Pastor Rudy Ramirez, director of the Porterville Rescue Mission Food Pantry, attests to this.
“People working in the fields are taking off to Oregon and Washington to follow the seasons but there is still a mass of people in need and there are other families who will replace them,” Ramirez said.

The 1,000-square-foot pantry receives between 800 to one ton of food per week from FoodLink of Tulare County, a non-profit organization in Visalia that supplies food to 80 other non-profit agencies in the county and is partially funded by the federal government.
On average, the pantry serves 100 families per week.

In 2010, an average of six new families per week signed up to receive free boxes of non-perishable food items from the Rescue Mission pantry. This year, the number has increased to 24 new families per week, Ramirez said.

“The economy has hit everybody — from lawyers to blue and white collar workers, and that’s who we help out,” he said.

The bad economy has also reached the food pantry.

According to Ramirez, FoodLink did not receive any federal funding this year, forcing the Rescue Mission’s four-person staff to pick up pallets of food at the Visalia location, and removing perishable food items from the pick-up list.

“We’re struggling because they’re struggling,” Ramirez said.

But Ramirez says the economy is not what keeps him afloat.

“I quit looking at the unemployment rate because it was a terrible downward spiral, and I’d like to think it has stopped. But it’s not the economy that makes me or breaks me, it’s God who keeps this thing running.”

And even when the economy does well, Porterville generally almost always has higher than normal unemployment, typical of rural areas, Keele explained.

Donnette Carter, president and CEO of the Porterville Chamber of Commerce, agrees.

“We’re always running double digits in our area which, unfortunately, is something that has been happening before the recession even hit,” Carter said.

When the recession did hit, Carter said it reached Porterville later than other areas and it was understood that recovery was going to be on the later end as well.

“People didn’t forget that. We were watching what was happening elsewhere, and we felt like things were going well and that’s when it hit,” she said.

Now, local businesses are weathering out the storm in a time Carter calls “White Water Times.”

“It’s been challenging, but we have seen a lot of our local businesses that have been around for a long time, floating on their raft. They’ve obviously planned well and have managed to navigate through the recession at this time,” Carter said.

Carter said that when measuring the state of the local economy, one can look at the types of businesses that are opening up shop, the types that are closing, jobs that are lost and created, as well as sales tax revenue.

In 2010, there was a total of 355 new business licenses issued in Porterville, many of which fall under maid/house cleaning, gardening, handyman, and party rental types. The area also saw several business closures, including Town and Country Drug, Anchor Blue, El Pollo Loco, and most recently, Rinconcito Cosala, a Mexican restaurant that was open for only a few months.

“Recovery is happening slower than what we would like to see. We have businesses telling us things are perking up in housing and sales, but it is slower than what they anticipated,” Carter said.

The solution, Keele said, involves several initiatives.

“It involves getting the politics, the economics and the educational aspect right,” he said. “But, if I had the solution, I’d be wearing the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Contact Denise Madrid at 784-5000, Ext. 1047 or dmadrid@portervillerecorder.com.