Lower Hudson Valley Excels at Job Growth

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Twelve metro areas in New York State added private sector jobs over the past year, according to the state Labor Department. All three of the low and mid Hudson Valley metro areas posted some job growth, though only one made it into the state's Top Five.

The five metro areas with the most rapid private-sector employment growth:

• Glens Falls (+3.6%)
• New York City (+2.2%)
• Nassau-Suffolk (+1.8%)
• Orange-Rockland-Westchester (+1.7%)
• Utica-Rome (+1.3%)

According to the DOL data, the Dutchess-Putnam metro area also grew, as did the Kingston metro area. Both grew by 1.1 percent.

Since the beginning of this year, the statewide labor force is up more than 175,000, labor department officials said.

In fact, the workforce expansion led to an increase in New York’s statewide unemployment rate, from 4.3% to 4.4% in May 2017. This over-the-month rise in the State’s jobless rate was due in large part to a 27,700 expansion in the statewide workforce as more re-entrants and new entrants to the labor force sought employment, state officials said.

Putnam and Rockland counties had some of the state's lowest unemployment rates in May. Statewide, the jobless rate in May was 4.4%.

The unemployment rate, by county:

The State’s private sector job count is based on a payroll survey of 18,000 New York employers, which is conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment rates are calculated using methods prescribed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The State’s area unemployment rates rely in part on the results of the Current Population Survey, which contacts approximately 3,100 households in New York State each month.