Orange County lost jobs in January on a monthly and year basis, the state Employment Development Department said Friday.
The county had 1.49 million jobs in January, down 1.2 % from December and down 0.9% from a year earlier.
About 12,500 jobs were shed from January 2007 to January 2008.
The unemployment rate was 4.4% in January, up from 4.3% in December and an estimated 3.7% a year earlier.
The trade, transportation and utilities sector led the monthly decline with the loss of 5,700 jobs.
The loss was expected as stores began cutbacks after the holidays. The sector actually ended up by about 4,400 jobs from a year earlier.
Professional and business services saw a monthly loss of 4,100 jobs.
Construction and finance jobs, hard hit by the housing downturn, continued their slides.
