Data prepared exclusively for www.OC180NEWS.com shows the number of jobs in Orange County increased again in April. OC fell to 6th of all California counties in job growth, but that was better than Los Angeles, which fell to the 8th slot. In March, LA was in first place and Orange County was second.

According to the California Employment Development Department’s household survey, Orange County added 4,700 jobs in April on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. The county gaining the most jobs in April was Monterey, which added 13,000 jobs, while Los Angeles added 3,500 jobs during the same month.

Since the end of last year, when the state’s total employment hit a low point, Orange County has been second behind Los Angeles in cumulative job creation. Los Angeles has added a net 34,000 jobs this year, with Orange County close behind at 31,200 new jobs this year.

The remaining three counties comprising the top five year to date job creators were San Diego at 18,200, Monterey at 16,700 and Ventura with a net job growth of 11,000.

With job growth of 8,800, Kern County is one of the surprises for April. This county had been losing jobs nearly every month since July 2009. It still is ranked at the bottom of the list for the year to date rankings, but its job growth for April was third highest in the state.

After the growth of 8,800 in April, Kern has cut its year to date job losses to a net 7,200. This cumulative loss still puts Kern at the bottom of the rankings, but it is better than it was last month. The next lowest job growth county is Neveda, with negative 550 jobs. There are 29 small Northern California counties with changes in employment between an increase of 500 and losses of 500 so far this year.

For Orange County, the April job growth is the forth in a row and brings total OC employment to 1,450,800. The recent low was hit last December when the county had only 1,419,600 employed people. The cumulative job growth so far this year puts county employment at its highest level in nearly one year. The last time more than 1,450,000 people were employed in Orange County was May 2009, when a total of 1,453,100 Orange County residents had work.

Rounding out the top ten year to date job creators in California are Fresno At number six with 9700 new jobs, Santa Clara With an increase of 9500 jobs, Riverside, up 8600, San Bernardino Up by 8100, and in the number ten slot is Santa Barbara With 7000 Net new jobs so far this year.