November Jobless Rate Up From Year Earlier : Employment: Figure rises from 4.1% to 4.4%. Final 1991 statistics are sure to show a loss of jobs in the county for the first year since 1982.

The unemployment rate in Orange County in November rose slightly to 4.4% from 4.1% a year earlier as the recession deepened over the last year.

As 1991 drew to a close, it was clear that it would be the first year since the recession of 1982 in which the county actually lost jobs.

As of November, 17,800 full- and part-time jobs had disappeared. That was a 1.5% drop, leaving 1.2 million jobs in the county, the state Employment Development Department said Monday.

Most of the lost jobs were in construction and manufacturing. But other types of businesses that traditionally have grown rapidly--such as retailing and the financial services industry--also lost jobs over the year.

And good times aren’t in the cards anytime soon.

The first quarter of a new year is usually slow anyway, as stores lay off people after the Christmas rush and bad weather interferes with construction.

“And this year for obvious reasons the first quarter will be even slower than usual,” said Eleanor Jordan, an analyst for the Employment Development Department.

On the plus side, the county unemployment rate of 4.4% in November was the lowest it has been in almost a year. It was also lower than the state rate--7.4%--and the national rate, 6.8%. (The county figures aren’t directly comparable to the state and national figures because the county figures don’t take into account seasonal factors such as as Christmas hiring by retailers.)

Also on the plus side, unemployment in the county fell from October, when the rate was 5%. The drop is accounted for by the sort of seasonal hiring that occurs every year in the fall, when teachers go back to work and stores hire extra help.

But at least one economist is skeptical that the unemployment rate improved all that much last month. Chapman University’s Esmael Adibi says the state figures probably also underestimate the number of discouraged workers, those who have given up trying to find a job.

Adibi, who studies the local economy for Chapman’s Center for Economic Research, said again Monday that he expects the county’s economy to turn up by midyear.

“The drop in interest rates that we’ve seen over the last six months will begin to have a positive effect on the national economy this quarter,” Adibi said. “The improvement will show up in Orange County by mid-1992.”

O.C. Unemployment From October to November the county’s jobless rate dropped six-tenths of a percentage point to 4.4%, its lowest level in 10 months. By comparison, the rate for November, 1983, during the recovery from the 1982-83 recession, was 5.6% 1982-83: Jan.: 9.4% Nov.: 5.6% 1990-91 Dec.: 4.0% Nov.: 4.4% Source: California Employment Development Department