JOBLESS CLAIMS DROP 2.9% IN MAY; LAYOFFS ON HORIZON.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

New unemployment claims in the Antelope Valley dropped 2.9 percent in May compared to April, but pending layoffs in the B-2 stealth bomber program are expected to push the numbers up, officials said Friday.

There were 1,967 new claims recorded in May, down 8.4 percent from the same period last year, according to statistics released by the Lancaster office of the state Employment Development Department.

The average number of people drawing weekly unemployment benefits dropped 9.8 percent in May, falling to 3,809. May's numbers are down 7.7 percent from May 1995, according to the EDD statistics.

``We anticipate a significant number of layoffs from Northrop,'' said Pete Eskis, manager of the Lancaster EDD office.

In March, Northrop Grumman announced plans to cut 575 jobs in the Antelope Valley, most of them before July.

The layoffs will come primarily in production-line work at U.S. Air Force Plant 42, where about 3,100 people are employed, but some are expected at Edwards Air Force Base, where Northrop Grumman employs 600 workers, according to company officials.

In its announcement, the corporation said the layoffs are the result of declining production of B-2 stealth bombers - the last is expected to roll off the production line in early 1998.

Northrop Grumman expects to keep about 2,500 workers employed in Palmdale for three years to modernize 18 of the 20 operational bombers and convert one test plane into a war-ready bomber.

Northrop's Antelope Valley work force reached its peak in 1993 at more than 4,500. It fell to 3,900 by the end of 1994 and to 3,700 at the end of 1995.