Putnam, Rockland, Westchester Counties Continue to Add Jobs

The statewide unemployment rate in New York declined from 6.0 percent to 5.9 percent in November, reaching its lowest level since September 2008, according to preliminary figures released by the New York State Department of Labor.

Year over year, you can see a more dramatic decline—the state’s unemployment rate was 7.1 percent in November 2013.

The employment picture has improved slightly in Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties in the past year: about 3,600 private-sector jobs have been added in the tri-county region, a growth rate of .7 percent.

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The state’s economy has added 506,100 private sector jobs and experienced employment growth in 40 of the past 47 months. This period included 22 consecutive months of private sector job growth, the state’s longest streak on record (current data go back to 1990).

“In November 2014, the unemployment rates in both New York State and New York City continued their recent downward trend, reaching their lowest levels in more than six years,” said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics.

The state’s private sector job count is based on a payroll survey of 18,000 New York employers conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monthly payroll employment estimates are preliminary and subject to revision as more data becomes available the following month. The federal government calculates New York’s unemployment rate partly based upon the results of the Current Population Survey, which contacts approximately 3,100 households in New York State each month.