Jobless Rates Rose: Past 12 Months in Westchester-Orange-Rockland

WESTCHESTER, NY — We're only looking at November's data, per the New York State Labor Department. It'll be the end of January before 12-month trend data comes out for December.

But since it's New Year's Day, we thought we'd look at the past 12 months for any notable trends. The trend is that unemployment has risen in the Hudson Valley metro areas in the past 12 months:

• Dutchess-Putnam: to 4.3 percent in November 2017 from 3.9 percent in November 2016
• Kingston: to 4.5 percent from 4.1 percent
• Orange-Rockland-Westchester: to 4.6 percent from 4.1 percent

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Contrast that to both the state and national jobless rates.

The New York State unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent in November 2017, from 4.9 percent in November 2016. The U.S. unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in November 2017, compared to 4.6 percent in November 2016.

Only Dutchess and Putnam made it onto the Labor Department's monthly list of job-healthiest counties. The counties in New York State with the lowest unemployment rates in November 2017 include:

• Queens County (3.5%)
• Columbia County (3.6%)
• New York County (3.6%)
• Richmond County (4.0%)
• Saratoga County (4.0%)
• Kings County (4.1%)
• Albany County (4.2%)
• Nassau County (4.2%)
• Dutchess County (4.3%)
• Putnam County (4.3%)
• Tompkins County (4.3%)

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.

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