Brookhaven Unemployment Rate Slides in April

The Town of Brookhaven’s unemployment rate slid to 6.9 percent in April, dropping by .4 percent when compared to last year’s rate of 7.3 percent in the same month, according to numbers released by New York State Department of Labor on Tuesday. 

For the fourth month in a row in 2011 the unemployment rate in Brookhaven has gone down. In , the rate went from 7.9 percent in 2010 to 7.4 percent in 2011. saw the unemployment rate dip from 8.5 percent to 8.1 percent and in it decreased from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent year over year.

Michael Crowell, labor market analyst with the Department of Labor said the pattern is the same in the region as it is for the local townships with unemployment heading down. He called it "a positive development in the economy.

New York State’s unemployment rate as a whole saw a dramatic drop for another month. In April the rate dropped .8 percent from 8.5 in 2010 to 7.7 in 2011. The Long Island region also experienced a drop from 7.1 percent last year to 6.6 percent in April this year.

"On Long Island a 6.6 percent unemployment rate this month is still double the rate of April of 2007," Crowell said.

Except for Southampton where the rate stayed steady at 7.6 percent year over year, many surrounding townships saw a drop in unemployment. The Town of Islip’s unemployment rate in April went from 7.6 percent in 2010 to 7.2 percent in 2011. Smithtown continues to have the lowest unemployment rate in the region, dipping to 5.9 percent in April 2011. Last year in the same month the rate was at 6.2 percent.

Crowell said that while the unemployment rates have dropped, the labor force as a whole is also decreasing.

"One of the prime causes of that is often discouraged workers," he said.

Once an individual stops looking for work, he is not considered part of the labor force and isn't counted as someone who's unemployed.

"For the region as a whole, we're still down 50,000 jobs over a peak about four years ago," Crowell said.

Regional Unemployment Rates

Region

April 2011

April 2010

Difference

Brookhaven

6.9%

7.3%

- .4

Riverhead

7%

7.3%

- .3

Islip

7.2%

7.6%

- .4

Southampton

7.6%

7.6%

0

Smithtown

5.9%

6.2%

- .3

Suffolk County

6.9%

7.4%

- .5

Long Island

6.6%

7.1%

- .5

New York State

7.7%

8.5%

- .8

 Source: New York State Department of Labor.