Land of in opportunity El Centro ranked as worst city in USA to find a job by website
EL CENTRO — Securing gainful employment in El Centro apparently is so difficult that the city has been named as the worst city in the USA to find a job.
In late August, 247wallst. com published a top five list of the worst cities in the country to find a job. Descending from the No. 5 spot, the cities were Bakersfield, Calif., with an unemployment rate in July of 8.3 percent; Ocean City, N.J., with an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent; Bloomington, Ind., with an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent; Yuma, Ariz., with an unemployment rate of 16.6 percent; and El Centro, with an unemployment rate of 17.1 percent.
When it comes to other cities in Imperial County, Calexico had by far the highest unemployment rate as of April, with 23.7 percent, placing it as the city with the second highest unemployment rate in the state, according to homefacts.com.
Overall in Imperial County, the unemployment rate as of August was about 20 percent.
“The unemployment rate in Imperial County was 19.3 percent in July, up from a revised 18.1 percent in June 2018, and below the year-ago estimate of 20.8 percent,” Frances Gines, a labor market consultant with the State of California Employment Development Department, Labor Market Information Division, told Imperial Valley Press. “This was the highest unemployment rate of any county in California.”
According to an article published by MSN in late August, Imperial County held was No. 5 in the top 50 counties in America with the highest unemployment.
However, unemployment has been falling over the past two years, down from a high of about 26 percent in September 2016, according to the State of California Employment Development Department.
“As high as the rate was, it was the lowest July unemployment rate Imperial County has experienced in the last 10 years,” Gines said.
Adding to the high unemployment is the prevalence of seasonal farm workers who are out of work during the off-season, Gines said.
“Imperial County is a desert agriculture area,” Gines said. “Agricultural areas typically have high unemployment rates, particularly in the off-season.”
Action at the state level
Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-56th District, said there is much to be done on the state level to help create jobs in Imperial Valley.
“I went through an overview of the last 30 years of the economic circumstances of Imperial County, and for the most part we have seen ups and downs, but always within the percentages of 15 percent … to 30 percent in 2012,” Garcia said during a press conference at Imperial Valley College in early September. “In 2014, we saw a number of 26 percent unemployment, and in April of this year the numbers reflected a 15 percent unemployment [rate]. It certainly isn’t something for us to jump out of our seats and celebrate, but 15 percent is a much different number than 30 percent, and it is clear we have a lot more work to do.”
Despite the high unemployment rate here, there is job growth in certain sectors.
Government, with 17,100 jobs, is the county’s largest employer, accounting for more than 28 percent of the county’s 60,300 jobs in July 2018, Gines said.
The next largest industries were trade, transportation and utilities with 11,900 jobs when combined together. Educational and health services accounted for another 9,800 jobs, with agriculture accounting for another 8,700 jobs.
“Together, these four industries accounted for more than 78 percent of the county’s jobs,” Gines said.
Higher education
Encouraging Imperial Valley residents to pursue a college degree could help improve the unemployment overall in the future, Garcia said.
With that in mind, Garcia this year helped guide $1 million in state funding to Imperial Valley College where it will be used to institute a new correctional academy and the development of a full-time medical assistant program that will train about 30 students each year, according to Dr. Martha Garcia, IVC superintendent and president.
The money is sourced from the Workforce Development in Economically Stressed Communities fund and is being awarded through the California Community College Chancellor’s Office. The money also will fund lighting on the IVC outdoor track that will enable evening use of that facility.
“I am excited to say this $1 million, on top of a $15 million allocation that was made to our workforce development centers — a good portion of that will end up here in Imperial County,” Assemblyman Garcia said.
The college funding will help create a trained workforce, he said.
“I know this college is on the go; it’s on expansion mode, and it is clearly on a path to being able to address all of those workforce needs for this region,” Garcia said. “A lot of times the community college, which is where a large majority of our friends, families, relatives and individuals who live in underserved economically depressed communities — that is their first step into this world of higher education.”
Garcia said that despite the successes, more is needed to alleviate unemployment in Imperial County in the future.
“Much more needs to be done to address the infrastructure needs that you have in the community college system,” he said. “Much more needs to be done also to look at the opportunities of the community college to wrap around and provide services that are above and beyond reading and writing and teaching folks the skill sets that they need.”