Westchester County, State Reached All-Time Employment High Last Month

Written by LANNING TALIAFERRO (Patch Staff)

New York state hit an all-time employment high of 7.75 million in February, adding 16,400 private-s ector jobs, state labor officials announced.

The region composed of Orange, Rockland and Westchester counties was one of the strongest areas, adding 7,700 jobs last month, an increase of 1.4 percent.

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“New York State’s economy added 16,400 private sector jobs in February 2015, keeping pace with the nation, and helping us to reach an all-time private sector job high of more than 7.75 million,” said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics in a prepared statement. “In addition, our state unemployment rate remained at its lowest level since 2008—down nearly a full percentage point from this time last year.”

The Orange-Rockland-Westchester region was one of the engines. Over the past year, private sector jobs grew most rapidly in these metro areas, state officials said:

• Private educational and health services added the most jobs (+49,800) of any major industry sector over the past year. Over the past year, sector job gains were mostly in health care and social assistance (+43,900), especially ambulatory health care services (+25,200).
• Professional and business services had the second largest increase in jobs (+34,900) between February 2014 and February 2015. Over the past year, sector job gains were mostly in professional, scientific and technical services (+21,000), and administrative and support services (+11,900).
• The third largest employment increase over the past year was registered in trade, transportation and utilities (+24,300), with most sector gains in retail trade (+13,000) and transportation, warehousing and utilities (+6,100).
• Over the past 12 months, manufacturing lost more jobs (-4,100) than any other major industry sector in the state. Sector losses were split between nondurable goods (-2,800) and durable goods (-1,300).
• Natural resources and mining also lost jobs (-200) over the past year.

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Patch Editor Alfred Branch contributed to this report.

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