Orange County’s yearly job losses continued in April while employment picked up slightly from March.
The county had 1.496 million nonfarm jobs in April, down by 19,700, or 1.3%, from a year earlier, according to the state Employment Development Department.
The finance sector, including mortgages, and construction led the decline, as they have for months now.
The decline marks the six straight month of yearly job losses for the county since November.
Many economists consider two straight quarters of job losses to signal a local recession.
The county continued to pick up jobs on a monthly basis, albeit at a subtle pace. Employers added 2,000 jobs from March, a 0.1% gain.
Leisure and hospitality, professional services and technical services,engineering, environmental services and other jobs,drove the gain.
The county’s unemployment rate in April was 4.4%, down from a revised 4.6 percent in March. A year earlier, unemployment was 3.5%.
