Gain reported in employment: but area's unemployment rate hops to 4-year record.

Gain reported in employment

Total employment in Los Angeles County rose to 4.28 million in February, up 0.2 percent from January but off 0.1 percent from February 1990, according to the State of California Employment Development Department.

The biggest gains were made in services

Jay Horowitz, labor market analyst for the Employment Development Department, said that despite a significant rise in services employment, "you can't read too much into one month. The indication is that things are looking up in those industry segments, but you can't say that it is definitely a comeback" from the recession.

He was quick to note that although employment figures rose, unemployment was up too. In fact, he said the county's unemployment rate during February was, at 7.4 percent, the highest since it hit 7.5 percent in September 1986. By comparison, the jobless rate was 6.6 percent in January and 5.5 percent in February 1990.

Placing the local figures in a national context, the U.S. unemployment rate was 6.5 percent in February, compared to 5.3 percent a year earlier.

For the month, retail trade employment offered 5,600 fewer job opportunities with general merchandise, apparel and accessories stores being the hardest hit, according to Horowitz. But in a mere month's time, it is difficult to determine whether the decrease was seasonal, recessionary or both, he said.

The manufacturing segment continued to be a weak link, losing 400 jobs during the month. "In our area," said Horowitz, "the high tech/aerospace industry was the hardest hit." And despite the real estate market, the number of construction jobs was up 0.07 percent for the month. [Tabular Data Omitted]