Orange County’s job losses continued in August but tempered slightly from July.
Employers shed 26,600 nonfarm workers last month versus a year earlier, an 1.8% decline, according to the state’s Employment Development Department.
The county has 1.48 million nonfarm workers.
The struggling financial sector led the decline with the loss of 11,700 jobs. Credit intermediation and related activities accounted for the most financial job losses, though all sectors of the industry were off.
The county’s yearly job loss tempered some from its recent highpoint in July, when it stood at 30,000. Part of July’s decline was due to the summer break for schools.
August’s total was closer to June’s 25,400 lost jobs.
The county has been losing jobs on a yearly basis each month since late last year.
The unemployment rate here now is 5.8%, up from 5.7% in July and 4.2% a year earlier. The rate is the highest in more than a decade.
From July to August, the county lost 3,200 jobs, a decline of about two-tenths of a percent.
August marks the second month in a row the county has lost jobs on a monthly as well as yearly basis.
Before July, the county had seen yearly job losses with subtle gains from one month to the next.
Government jobs again drove the decline from July to August, as they did from June to July.
The sector shed 2,000 jobs last month, most in education amid summer recess.
