The county’s job market continued to improve in April, with employment growth from March, lessened losses from a year earlier and the unemployment rate back below 10%.
Employers here added 4,700 workers in April from March, according to the figures released Friday by the state Employment Development Department.
The county now has 1.36 million employed workers.
The monthly gain wasn’t as dramatic as March’s 7,300 added jobs added from February but continued a trend of monthly gains that started in February.
The county’s unemployment rate was 9.5% in April, down from 10.1% in March and up from 8.2% a year earlier.
In March, the unemployment rate went above 10% for the second time as more people without jobs started looking for work again.
In January, the unemployment rate here peaked during the current downturn at 10.2%.
On a yearly basis, the county lost 28,400 jobs in April from a year earlier, a 2% decline.
The pace of yearly job losses last month was the slowest of the current downturn.
In March, the county shed nearly 40,000 jobs versus a year earlier.
The peak in yearly job losses in the current downturn came in early 2009, when the county lost some 72,000 jobs.
On a yearly basis, the construction sector continued to lead job losses as it has for the entire downturn.
In April, the county had 12,700 fewer construction jobs than a year earlier.
Hotels and others in leisure and hospitality saw the biggest yearly gain with 7,400 jobs added.
The leisure and hospitality segment also led job gains in April from March, adding 3,100 jobs as hotels, restaurants and others ramped up for summer.
The government sector added 1,300 jobs in April from March, led by the federal government.
Professional and business services, a key gauge of corporate demand for workers, fell by about 100 jobs in April from March.
