Town of Oyster Bay Unemployment Rate Unchanged

The Town of Oyster Bay's unemployment rate stayed exactly the same at 6.4 percent in October, while the area and Long Island as a whole maintained the September percentages.

The town's unemployment stayed the same in October, and is down only .1 percent from October 2009, when the rate was 6.5 percent, according to a report by the State Labor Department released Thursday.

According to the New York State Department of Labor, the number of employed for the Town of Oyster Bay was 146,353 in 2010, compared to the number of unemployed at 9,984. In 2009, 145,160 were employed, while 10,093 where unemployed. 

"The overall report is pretty positive," said Gary Huth, Long Island economist for the state Labor Department. "The numbers track fairly closely to the national data. We're doing better than the national economy. It's slow but improving. There does appear to be some degree of certainty of the viability of recovery. But the speed of the recovery is a little slower that we'd like to see."

Compared with Nassau County, where unemployment stayed the same at 6.8 percent for October from 6.8 percent in September, the Town of Oyster Bay also remained at 6.4 percent.  In the Long Island region, unemployment held steady at 6.9 percent for the past two reports. 

"There are 10,900 more jobs on Long Island than there were in October 2009. We are growing at a rate of 1.1 percent a year. It's not gangbusters, certainly, but it's significantly better than it was earlier," Huth said.

Huth said there might be a decrease in the next few months related to seasonal changes.

"Usually there is some increased hiring in retail trade, though this month it's unchanged. In wholesale trade there is a big jump up," he said.

Overall, the Labor Department said these numbers are positive and that Island-wide statistics are on the right track.

"We've been starting to improve over the last five months [though] September was weak. This number, while it's not great, it's a solid number," Huth said.