Orange County’s job losses for 2008 came in at a staggering 41,400 workers, a 2.7% decline, according to the state’s Employment Development Department.
The county’s employment rate ended the year at 6.5% in December, up from 6.2% in November and 4.3% a year earlier.
December’s job losses versus a year earlier topped November’s 38,400 annual decline, which had been the highest in a running string of declines.
The yearly job losses in December are at a level not seen since the early 1990s recession. You also have to go back 15 years or so to find as high a local unemployment rate.
On a monthly basis from November to December, the county lost 3,800 jobs for a total of 1.47 million workers. The monthly decline was less than 1%.
The December numbers show how job losses have moved beyond construction and mortgage banking, which drove declines in 2008, to the broader economy.
The largest yearly loss of 12,500 jobs was in professional and business services. Administrative and support services, which includes temporary employment agencies, accounted for almost 70% of the decline.
Construction continues to suffer: The sector was one of the biggest monthly decliners from November to December, shedding 400 jobs.
Manufacturing also fell by 400 jobs from November to December.
Education and health services were among the few sectors to add jobs in the past year, adding about 1,300 workers in 2008.
