For the second month in a row, more people were working in Orange County then in the previous months. February employment for OC showed gains in both of two different surveys used by the state to determine the employment statistics. In addition, Los Angeles County had large employment gains.

For January, www.OC180NEWS.com reported (see related article) Orange County employment improved by 1,900 in the household survey. But, in that month, the other survey, known as the payroll survey, reflected job losses for Orange County totaling 13,400, compared to December 2009.

In the February data, the household survey reported Orange County had 16,300 more employed folks then in January, and the Employment Development Department revised upward by 200 jobs the number of working people in Orange County for January. The February Household survey employment numbers are at their highest level since July, 2009.

The last time the Orange County household survey reported job gains for two consecutive months was March and April of 2008. While the numbers did go up in both those months, the increases were pretty small—600 for March 2009 and 1,700 for April 2009.

The payroll survey also showed gains in employment in February compared to January. Businesses reported 10,700 more people working in Orange County in February. While this gain does not replace all of the 13,400 jobs employers shed during January, it is the first month over month improvement in the payroll survey results since October 2009.

The employment picture also improved in Los Angeles County in February. In the household survey, not only did LA gain back all of the 61,900 (revised) jobs lost in January, they also replaced about half of the jobs lost in December. According to the household survey, the total Los Angeles job gain for February was 75,800 jobs.

In the payroll survey, Los Angeles employers reported 24,800 more workers in February than January, but that was not enough to offset the 71,000 jobs lost in January. It was, however, the first monthly gain in Los Angeles since November 2009.

In our exclusive analysis of data from the household survey, just like January, Orange County ranked second in the state in jobs created. With 75,800 new jobs, Los Angeles moved from last place and replaced Sacramento as the state’s best job builder. OC’s 16,300 new jobs gave it the number two spot. This was followed by San Diego with 7,100 new working people, Ventura at 4,100, Riverside at 4,000 and San Bernardino with 3,800 new jobs.

In January, with 4,700 new jobs, Sacramento created the most new jobs in the state. But with only 800 new jobs in February, it fell to the twentieth slot. Of the states 58 counties, all but seven had at least some job growth. Kern, which last month was second only to Los Angeles in job losses, this month, occupied the bottom of the list. Kern County lost another 3,600 jobs in February, on top of the 6,600 jobs lost in January.