A SPECIAL REPORT: LAYOFFS

GET A JOB: How bad is the job market out there? Bad, but getting better. . . . Orange County lost 30,000 jobs last year, but that’s better than the year before, when we lost 46,000 jobs. By comparison, in Orange County’s last recession--1982--we lost only 16,000. . . . “This time,” says Eleanor Jordan, a state labor market analyst, “the losses are spread far more broadly across industries.” Only one major Orange County industry didn’t lose jobs last year--transportation.

* Shrinking Jobs The recession has taken its toll on Orange County’s job market. Total numbers of non-agricultural jobs. 1988: 1.15 million 1990: 1.21 million 1992: 1.13 million Source: state Employment Development Department