Rockland, Westchester Continue to Add Jobs

The employment picture continues to improve slowly in Rockland and Westchester counties.

In fact, over the past year, the Rockland-Westchester-Orange county area was one of the areas where private sector jobs grew the fastest in New York—at about 1.5 percent.

Across the state, the education and health services sector saw the most job gains.

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The statewide unemployment rate in New York stayed at 5.8 percent in January, 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.

“In January 2015, New York State’s economy continued to advance, reaching an all-time high private sector job count of more than 7.73 million. In addition, our state unemployment rate remained at its lowest level in more than six years,” said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics.

Labor force data, including unemployment rates, are revised at the end of each year, using methods established by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The revised labor force data show that New York State’s annual average unemployment rate fell from 7.7% in 2013 to 6.3% in 2014.

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.