Real-time labor market data · April 2026
A second straight month of job gains
Nonfarm employment rose for a second straight month in April, up 5,000, with leisure and hospitality adding the most jobs of any sector. Unemployment fell to 3.7%, the lowest reading in nearly a year, even as total payrolls remain 11,200 below where they stood twelve months ago.
The two-year trend
At 3.7%, April sits near the low end of the two-year range, just above the cycle low still to come in May.
Swipe left to see the full two-year chart →
What moved this month
Leisure and hospitality added 2,700 jobs in April, split almost evenly between food services and entertainment venues. Manufacturing was the only sector with a sizable pullback, down 700 jobs.
Bar lengths are scaled to keep smaller changes visible; exact figures are shown beside each bar.
The twelve-month view
Three sectors added a combined 15,500 jobs over the year, but government's 16,800-job decline, 89% of it in local government, kept the year-over total negative.
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.
Leisure and hospitality jobs gained over the year.
Government jobs lost over the year, 89% of it in local government (−14,900).
Manufacturing jobs lost over the year.
Where Orange County stands among California's 58 counties
Orange County tied for fourth-lowest unemployment in the state in April, alongside Marin and Santa Clara counties, behind Mono, San Mateo, and San Francisco.
| Rank | County | Labor force | Unemployment rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mono | 8,970 | 3.2% |
| 2 | San Mateo | 407,600 | 3.3% |
| 3 | San Francisco | 498,000 | 3.5% |
| 4 | Marin | 122,500 | 3.7% |
| 4 | Orange | 1,605,600 | 3.7% |
| 4 | Santa Clara | 1,025,400 | 3.7% |
| 7 | Placer | 207,800 | 3.9% |
| 8 | Napa | 73,200 | 4.0% |
| 8 | San Luis Obispo | 131,700 | 4.0% |
| 8 | Sonoma | 244,600 | 4.0% |
Statewide, California's labor force stands at 19,532,800, with an unemployment rate of 5.0%.
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: April 2026 (preliminary), with the prior month revised and the prior-year April for comparison.