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IRVINE, CA-The total number of nonfarm jobs in the county has risen for the third straight month with a .2% increase in April over March's numbers, reports Jones Lang LaSalle. In addition, the area's unemployment rate continues to tighten, down .6% from 6.3% in March to 5.7% last month.

“If you look at the 12-month growth by sector, there's tons of growth in healthcare, life sciences and high-tech manufacturing,” Jeff Ingham, senior managing director for JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. “A couple things are happening. Aside from the tremendous growth in those specific sectors, specifically the areas that affect office employment, some companies are holding back based on uncertainty about Obamacare, and others are beginning to expand with cautious optimism.”

The mortgage industry, in particular, is seeing a lot of growth, Ingham says, as improvement in the housing market is helping to stimulate refinancing. “There's definitely a positive growth factor there. But one of the concerns in that segment on an ongoing basis is, as interest rates pick up, will new home sales begin to match up with refis?”

As GlobeSt.com reported in April, while growth of both the US and Orange County economies is expected to continue this year, the rate of growth will slow, but Orange County will continue to outperform the US as a whole, Jerry Nickelsburg, professor of economics at UCLA's Anderson School of Management and senior economist with UCLA Anderson Forecast, told GlobeSt.com. Nickelsburg was one of several speakers at the 2013 Orange County Economic Outlook, which took place here recently at the University Club, UCI.

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