Orange County saw a net loss in jobs for 2007, the state’s Employment Development Department said Friday.
December employment in the county was down by 6,600 jobs, or 0.4%, from a year earlier.
The yearly job loss counters 2007 estimates from economists who predicated a gain of about 7,000 jobs for the year, an increase of less than 1%.
December local employment was up slightly, though statistically flat, from November.
The county had 1.53 million workers last month, excluding farm jobs. That was up by 1,000 jobs from November.
The county’s unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in December from 4.2% in November and 3.1% a year earlier.
Construction and finance jobs, including in the mortgage sector, drove the decline from 2006.
