Orange County’s nonfarm jobs declined by 72,600, or 4.8%, in April versus a year earlier in what was the biggest yearly job loss so far during the recession.
The numbers were released Friday by the California Employment Development Department.
The decline surpasses February’s 72,300 yearly job losses.
The unemployment rate in OC was 8.3% in April, down from a revised 8.6% in March and almost double the year-ago estimate of 4.3%.
The unemployment rate and level of layoffs are on par with the worst of the early 1990s recession.
Trade, transportation and utilities saw the largest year-over-year decrease in jobs with 19,700 lost. About 55% of these losses were in retail.
Professional and business services lost 14,300 jobs in April versus a year earlier, with 66% of these jobs from administration and waste services, including staffing companies.
Construction lost 14,000 yearly jobs, with the bulk of them from the specialty trade contractors sector.
In April versus March, the county lost a total of 1,000 nonfarm jobs as the struggling retail and construction sectors shed jobs, but government and leisure and hospitality added workers.
The monthly loss comes after OC added jobs in March versus February. In March, the county’s nonfarm employment rose by 1,600 jobs to 1.43 million workers.
Some sectors bucked the overall downward trend.
Leisure and hospitality added 1,000 jobs in April versus March, mostly due to hiring for the upcoming summer tourist season.
Government added 900 jobs in April, with 78% of the workers hired by the federal government.
