Hudson Valley City Sees Strong Job Growth In Past 12 Months

The labor market is holding steady according to preliminary figures for October released Friday by the New York State Department of Labor. One part of the Hudson Valley has done particularly well in the past 12 months.

The unemployment rate increased to 4 percent from 3.9 percent. The number of private sector jobs grew by just 0.2 percent.

In January-October 2019, the jobless rate in New York state declined by 0.2 percentage points and the number of unemployed New Yorkers dropped by 18,500 compared to the same period in 2018.
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.

One part of the Hudson Valley has done particularly well in the past 12 months. The Kingston metro area was the third-fastest growing for private sector jobs.

Highlights since October 2018:

• Twelve metro areas in New York State added private sector jobs since October 2018. The most rapid growth was in these metro areas:
  • Ithaca (+3.3%)
  • Syracuse (+1.9%)
  • Kingston (+1.6%)
  • New York City (+1.4%)
  • Elmira (+1.3%)
  • Nassau-Suffolk (+1.3%)

“New York State’s labor market continued to strengthen in October 2019, reaching a new record high in private sector jobs as the State’s growth rate outpaced the comparable U.S. rate,” said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Director of the New York State Department of Labor’s Division of Research and Statistics.

Monthly payroll employment estimates are preliminary and subject to revision as more data become available the following month. The federal government calculates New York State’s unemployment rate based partly upon the results of the Current Population Survey, which contacts approximately 3,100 households in New York State each month.