Orange County lost nearly 30,000 jobs in July from a year earlier as the area’s slumping employment market took a turn for the worse.
The county lost 29,900 jobs in July versus a year earlier, a 2% decline, according to the state’s Employment Development Department.
The total is the highest since the county started losing jobs late last year.
In June, the county lost about 25,000 jobs versus a year earlier.
July also marks the first time of late that the county lost jobs on a yearly and monthly basis.
Up to now, the county has seen yearly job losses with subtle gains from one month to the next.
But last month, the county lost 10,100 jobs in July versus June, a 0.7% decline.
Part of the monthly decline was due to the summer break for schools.
The county’s unemployment rate was 5.7% in July, up from 5.3% in June and 4.3% a year earlier.
July’s unemployment rate is the highest in 13 years.
Construction and financial services job cuts continued to drive losses on a yearly basis, as they have for months now.
A decline in government, education, healthcare and professional services job drove the decline from June to July.
