Putnam Continues Low Jobless Rate

BREWSTER, NY — The New York State Department of Labor has released preliminary local area unemployment rates for December 2016.

The counties in New York State with the lowest unemployment rates in December 2016 include:

• Tompkins County (3.4%)
• Columbia County (3.6%)
• Nassau County (3.6%)
• Albany County (3.8%)
• Putnam County (3.8%)
• Saratoga County (3.8%)
• Dutchess County (3.9%)
• New York County (3.9%)
• Queens County (3.9%)
• Rockland County (3.9%)

Westchester and Orange counties just missed the cut, at 4.0 percent for both.

Year over year, the local area unemployment rates were the same in December 2016 as in December 2015: 3.9 percent for Dutchess-Putnam, 4.0 percent for Orange-Rockland-Westchester and 4.3 percent for Kingston.

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.