Orange County’s unemployment rate stayed at 3.8% in December, unchanged from a revised 3.8% in November and above the 2.7% rate seen in December last year, according to the state’s Employment Development Department.
The state’s unemployment rate was 5.1% in December while the U.S.’s was 3.5%.
Nonfarm OC employment gained 5,600 jobs from November to December when 1.74 million were employed.
The county has surpassed the February 2020 pre-pandemic employment level of 1.68 million jobs.
Five of the 11 industry sectors saw job increases.
Leading the job increase was the professional and business services, which added 2,600 jobs. Other sectors adding jobs included leisure and hospitality, up 2,500, and private education and health services, up 2,100.
The largest decline was 2,100 in government jobs.
About 18.2 million worked in California in December, an increase of 23,400 nonfarm payroll jobs from November and up about 311,000 jobs from a year earlier.
Six of the 11 industry sectors added jobs month-over-month, led by private education and health services, up 13,200, due to increases in nursing care facilities.
Professional & Business Services was the biggest decliner, falling 3,800 jobs.
People receiving unemployment benefits rose by 52,897 to 376,872.
