Hudson Valley Posts Private Sector Growth: NY Labor Department

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — In the past 12 months, from April 2016 to 2017, New York State’s private sector held steady, jobs-wise. The state added a net 4,700 jobs, for a total of 8,032,300, according to figures released May 18 by the New York State Department of Labor. That's a 0.1 percent rise.

Locally, the Dutchess-Putnam metro area marked some of the most rapid private-sector job growth during that time. The two other metro areas in the lower Hudson, Kingston and Orange-Rockland-Putnam, added jobs as well.

“The State’s labor market added 4,700 private sector jobs in April 2017 and the unemployment rate remained at its lowest level in over a decade,” said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Deputy Director of the New York State Department of Labor’s Division of Research and Statistics.

Ten metro areas in New York State added private sector jobs over the past year, with the most rapid growth in these areas:

• Glens Falls (+2.3%)
• Dutchess-Putnam (+1.2%)
• Nassau-Suffolk (+1.0%)
• New York City (+1.0%)
• Syracuse (+1.0%)
• Watertown-Fort Drum (+1.0%)

(Over the past year, five metro areas in the state – Elmira (-3.2%), Binghamton (-0.9%), Rochester (-0.9%), Buffalo-Niagara Falls (-0.3%) and Utica-Rome (-0.3%) – lost private sector jobs.)

The Kingston and Orange-Rockland-Westchester metro areas also picked up private-sector jobs, although at a lower rate. Kingston posted 0.9 percent growth, and O-R-W posted 0.8 percent growth.

That totaled a net additional 6,400 jobs in the three metro areas.

Labor force statistics, including the unemployment rate, for New York and every other state are based on statistical regression models specified by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.