Unemployment Holds Steady Oyster Bay and Nassau County

For the third consecutive month, the unemployment rate has remained at 6.4 percent in the town of Oyster Bay, according to October statistics released by the state labor Department Thursday.

The number of people out of work in Oyster Bay dropped from 10,020 to 9,884 from September to October, while the number of those employed rose from 145,790 to 146,353.  The unemployment rate in the town was down slightly from a year ago when it was at 6.5 percent.

The jobless rates in Nassau County and statewide were also unchanged. County wide unemployment was at 6.8 percent, while the statewide number remained at 8.3 percent. The nationwide unemployment rate was 9.6 percent.

The state added 40,500 jobs in October, according to the statistics.

"The overall report is pretty positive," said Gary Huth, the Long Island Economist for the state labor department. "The numbers track fairly closely to the national data. We're doing better than the national economy. It's slow but improving. There does appear to be some degree of certainty of the viability of recovery. But the speed of the recovery is a little slower that we'd like to see." 

president Phyllis Doria says she still sees signs of pain out there.

"I have five friends on unemployment, and I see more people than ever using EBT cards. It's alarming," Doria said, referring to cards issued by the government for people who need food assistance.

Huth does maintain that things are getting better.

There are 10,900 more jobs on Long Island than there were in October 2009. We are growing at a rate of 1.1 percent a year,"  "It's not gangbusters, certainly, but it's significantly better than it was earlier." 

With the holiday season approaching, Huth didn't see a jump in retail jobs.

Usually there is some increased hiring in retail trade, though this month it's unchanged," he said, but added  "In wholesale trade there is a big jump up."

He also noted that the health care and private education sectors have been doing well, but financial services is lagging.

"It's down 1,500 jobs compared to a year ago," he said. "A year ago it was at the bottom of the sector."