Job Growth Will Continue, Despite Economic Slowdown

ORANGE COUNTY-Although the cooling of the national economy and the statewide energy crisis may somewhat slow Orange County’s economy, a 2.7% job growth is predicted for the region in 2001, according to a recently released economic forecast published by California State University in Fullerton.

Unemployment in the county is at a level 2.4% rate for the first quarter, down from 2.5% for the year 2000. However, the forecast predicts that unemployment will continue to grow in the second and third quarters, as Orange County’s economic pattern will probably follow that of the slowing national economy. “There is a lag of three months between what is happening nationally and what is happening here,” says Dr. Anil K. Puri, the director of the Institute for Economic and Environmental Studies at Cal State Fullerton, who worked on the forecast.