CaliforniaApparelNews.net

The February unemployment rate for California’s apparel manufacturing businesses is scheduled to be released on March 10, but if you read the tea leaves on the wider employment picture across the state and the nation, no major recovery is expected for California's schmatte business. 

The American unemployment rate remained unchanged from January to February. Unemployment rates for both months hovered around 9.7 percent, according to a March 5 statement from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unfortunately for California, its unemployment rate was higher than the national average. It was 12.3 percent, according to a March 5 statement from the California Employment Development Department.

If employment numbers hold steady for California apparel manufacturing, it would be good news for an industry that lost 5,900 jobs in 2009, said Jack Kyser, founding economist of the Kyser Center for Economic Research at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

“It’s still a mixed picture,” Kyser said. “The industry is under incredible pressure.”  But there is a bright side.  Retailers have been doing better. February chain-store sales, which were reported March 4, reported their strongest performance since November 2007, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. These healthier retailers have been ordering more inventory from manufacturers, Kyser said. This blogger should look more into the apparel manufacturing unemployment rate on March 10.