Orange County employers added 12,100 jobs in September, helping bring down the unemployment rate to 5.1%.
The rate compared with 5.4% in August, and 6.1% last September.
OC had 1,482,400 jobs as of last month, up about 2% from a year earlier, according to the state Employment Development Department.
The number of government jobs increased by 10,200, more than any other sector. Local government jobs accounted for about 97% of the increase, “primarily due to continuing seasonal gains in local government education following the summer recess,” the agency said. OC had 146,600 government jobs, up 2% year-over-year.
The construction sector added 2,700 jobs, with specialty trade contractors accounting for 85% of the growth. The sector has grown by more than 9% over the past year, a faster rate than any other sector, for a total of 86,700 jobs.
The number of educational and health services jobs increased by 1,700 to 188,000. The sector has grown nearly 3% over the year.
Employers in the professional and business services sector added 1,400 jobs, for a total of 272,400. That’s a growth of 2.7% year-over-year.
The local manufacturing sector lost 2,000 jobs. It had 156,300 jobs overall, about the same as the year-earlier total.
The number of leisure and hospitality jobs fell by 1,300, “as the summer tourist season came to an end,” the state agency reported. The sector had 195,200 jobs, up about 2% from a year earlier.
The unemployment rate for California overall was 6.9%, down from 7.5% in August and 8.5% last September.
Nationwide the rate was 5.7%, down from 6.3% in August and 7% a year earlier.
