Orange County’s unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from a revised 3.7% in December and compares to 7.8% in January last year, according to the state’s Employment Development Department.
The state’s unemployment rate was 5.5%. The January U.S. unemployment rate was 4.4%.
Nonfarm OC employment fell 29,100 jobs from December to January when 1.60 million were employed. OC employment is up 107,100 jobs from the same period a year ago.
Ten of the 11 industry sectors saw job declines, except for mining and logging.
“This is typical for this time of the year,” the EDD said in a statement,
Retail trade accounted for 73% of the 6,200 job decline in the trade, transportation and utilities sector.
Another big drop was 6,200 in administrative services, which includes temporary-help firms.
About 17.2 million worked in California in January, an increase of 53,600 jobs from December and up 1.18 million jobs from a year earlier.
The state has now recovered 82% of the 2.76 million jobs lost in March and April of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Statewide, eight of 11 industry sectors added jobs month-over-month, led by 26,600 in the trade, transportation and utilities sector, primarily within the general freight trucking industry subsector.
People receiving unemployment benefits rose 56,989 to 412,738 from 355,749.
