National Education Corp. Reports Loss

National Education Corp. said Wednesday that it lost $4.3 million, 14 cents a share, during the first quarter.

The Irvine company, which runs a chain of vocational schools, lost $2.6 million, 9 cents a share a year ago.

The company said financial performance during the first half of its fiscal year is usually slow.

But the recession has hurt another of its businesses, on-the-job training in computing, human resources and the like as many Fortune 500 clients have trimmed jobs and training programs.

Revenues for the quarter dropped to $83 million compared to $87.3 million last year.