Real-time labor market data · March 2026
Payrolls bounce back, up 6,200 in March
Orange County added 6,200 nonfarm jobs in March, its strongest monthly gain in eight months, led by health care. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8%, the lowest reading since spring 2025, even though total payrolls are still down slightly from a year ago.
The two-year trend
March's 3.8% rate is the lowest point on the two-year chart apart from a brief dip in mid-2024.
Swipe left to see the full two-year chart →
What moved this month
Private education and health services added the most jobs in March, 3,900, entirely within health care and social assistance. Government, leisure and hospitality, and information also grew, while trade, transportation and utilities pulled back 900 jobs.
Bar lengths are scaled to keep smaller changes visible; exact figures are shown beside each bar.
The twelve-month view
Private education and health services added 13,500 jobs over the year, more than offsetting a 16,400-job decline in government.
Bar lengths are scaled to keep smaller changes visible; exact figures are shown beside each bar.
Private education and health services added over the year, 88% of it in health care and social assistance (+11,900).
Leisure and hospitality jobs gained over the year.
Government jobs lost over the year, 89% of it in local government (−14,600).
Manufacturing jobs lost over the year.
Where Orange County stands among California's 58 counties
Orange County tied for third-lowest unemployment in the state in March, alongside Mono, Marin, and Santa Clara counties.
| Rank | County | Labor force | Unemployment rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Mateo | 410,000 | 3.5% |
| 2 | San Francisco | 501,100 | 3.7% |
| 3 | Marin | 123,400 | 3.8% |
| 3 | Mono | 8,520 | 3.8% |
| 3 | Orange | 1,615,900 | 3.8% |
| 3 | Santa Clara | 1,032,700 | 3.8% |
| 7 | Placer | 208,800 | 4.0% |
| 8 | San Luis Obispo | 132,400 | 4.1% |
| 9 | Sonoma | 246,400 | 4.2% |
| 10 | Alameda | 862,700 | 4.3% |
Statewide, California's labor force stands at 19,657,800, with an unemployment rate of 5.2%.
Source: California Employment Development Department, Labor Market Information Division. Figures cover the Anaheim–Santa Ana–Irvine Metropolitan Division (Orange County), not seasonally adjusted. Industry employment is by place of work and excludes the self-employed; labor force and unemployment figures are by place of residence and include the self-employed. Data may not sum exactly due to rounding, and labor force estimates are revised in subsequent months.
Reference period: March 2026 (preliminary), with the prior month revised and the prior-year March for comparison.