GTE Expansion Will Add 300 Jobs in County

Ventura County will pick up about 300 new jobs with telephone company GTE announcing an expansion of its services throughout Southern California.

GTE, which provides telephone lines and service to millions of people nationwide, will hire the new workers for its Thousand Oaks operator service office and its Oxnard customer service center.

The Oxnard facility, which is GTE’s largest customer service center in Southern California, now employs about 634 people at its office at Rice Avenue and Gonzalez Road. About 200 people are expected to be hired for the jobs, with pay ranging from $8 to $15 an hour including benefits, GTE officials said.

As many as 100 people are expected to be hired in the company’s Thousand Oaks facility, where the company’s operators are based. Operator pay ranges from $7 to $15 an hour.

GTE spokesman Larry Cox said the company has already begun hiring.

The company’s expansion into cable TV and other telecommunications industries has prompted unprecedented growth over the last year, Cox said.

“Our business is booming,” Cox said. “I think people are seeing that telecommunications can improve their business and leisure time at home.”

Local officials said the new jobs will be a welcome boost to the local economy.

“I’m obviously very, very happy,” Thousand Oaks Councilman Andy Fox said. “More jobs coming into the community, particularly career positions, would be very beneficial to the economic stability of our community.”

News of GTE’s hiring plans was greeted with cheer by Oxnard city officials who say it looks like the city is finally recovering from the devastating recession of the early 1990s.

“It’s wonderful and something that we desperately need,” said Mayor Manuel Lopez. “We were at the pale end of the recovery. I think things will be better now.”

GTE’s decision follows nine months of good economic news for Oxnard, which many analysts say had suffered the brunt of the recession.

Ali Akbari, economics professor at Cal Lutheran University, noted that as people are hired for jobs with good incomes, local businesses and the housing market will be affected.

“Oxnard was hard hit by the housing crisis,” said Akbari, who is also the head of the university’s Center for Economic Research. “This is positive, welcome news that will affect the housing market . . . and it will have a positive impact on the services sector.”

In the last nine months, about 20 small and medium-size businesses have relocated to Oxnard, bringing about 1,500 jobs to the area.

More businesses, such as Bungee International--the makers of bungee cords--plan to open headquarters in Oxnard next month.

“GTE was a big boost to the local economy and psyche in 1994 when they hired so many people,” said Steve Kinney, president of Oxnard’s Economic Development Corp. “This will be terrific for the local economy.”