The 6th annual Oxnard Economic Outlook event speakers are predicting a slow road to recovery for the region. “Clearly we’re at the bottom,” said Chris Thornberg, of Beacon Economics, who made the presentation as part of UC Santa Barbara’s Economic Forecast Project which did the research for the economic outlook.

Thornberg has a moderate view of the economic recovery, he believes the worst is over, however he also is estimating a considerably long rebound for businesses. During his speech, he did reveal that the city of Oxnard has fared better than many other California cities.

Scott Hadly, from the Ventura County Star, reported, “The data he used, from 2008, showed that employment fell by just .03 percent in the city while countywide employment dropped by 2 percent. More recent numbers, however, show that while the nation as a whole is seeing unemployment rates of 9.8 percent as of September, California’s rate was 12.2 percent. Ventura County’s unemployment rate was 11.2 percent. Oxnard’s rate was 15.1 percent in August.”