The county’s job market took a step backward in July as employers cut jobs on a monthly basis for the first time in 2010 since January.
Employers here shed 10,300 jobs in July from June for total of 1.36 million nonfarm workers, according to the state Employment Development Department.
The cuts reversed five months of gains and marked the first monthly decline in jobs here this year since January, when employers shed 14,600 workers.
In June, employers here added 5,100 workers from May.
The cuts drove a rise in the county’s unemployment rate, which stood at 9.8% in July, up from 9.5% in June and 9.7% a year earlier.
Teachers being temporarily laid off for the summer drove the cuts.
The local education sector saw the biggest monthly job losses at 10,400, making up the bulk of some 12,100 government jobs lost last month.
But the cuts went beyond education.
The professional and business services category, which had been in recovery, saw 1,400 jobs cut last month versus June.
Most of the cuts came in the administrative and support services sector, which includes employment agencies.
Hotels, theme parks, restaurants and others in the leisure and hospitality segment continued hiring for the busy summer season, adding 1,400 jobs from June.
On a yearly basis, the county showed its first yearly jobs gain, albeit slight, since the current employment downturn began.
Employers here added 8,800 jobs, a 0.7% gain, in July from a year earlier. The yearly gain is the first since the county’s jobs downturn started in late 2007.
Hotels, theme parks, restaurants and other leisure and hospitality businesses led the yearly gain with 9,000 jobs added amid a subtle recovery in this year’s tourism season.
Baseball’s All-Star Game in Anaheim, which brought an estimated 100,000 people to the area in early July, spurred some of the sector’s hiring.
Professional and business services grew by 5,800 jobs in July from a year earlier.
Construction, the hardest hit segment of the downturn, again led yearly job losses with 7,100 workers unemployed in the past 12 months.
In an encouraging sign for the sector, construction actually gained 600 jobs in July from June.
