Hudson Valley Helps NY Private Sector Job Growth

In February 2016, New York State’s private sector job count increased by 18,700 to 7,884,000, a new record high, according to preliminary figures released last week by the New York State Department of Labor.

That’s not a lot -- 0.2 percent -- but it pushed the state to a record high in private sector employment.

In the 12 months ending in February, New York state not only gained private sector jobs, but it added a few government jobs as well, ending a long downward trend. In that time, 122,700 private sector jobs were added, but the total number of non-farm jobs -- private sector and government -- grew by 130,500.

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Over the past year, private sector jobs grew most rapidly in these metro areas in New York State:

• Watertown-Fort Drum (+4.6%)
• Kingston (+3.8%)
• New York City (+2.9%)
• Orange-Rockland-Westchester (+2.6%)
• Dutchess-Putnam (+2.3%)
• Ithaca (+2.2%)

The State’s private sector job count is based on a payroll survey of 18,000 New York employers conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Sectors With Job Gains:

• Educational & Health Services*+38,400
• Professional & Business Services+23,700
• Leisure & Hospitality+15,600
• Construction+14,600
• Other Services+9,400
• Trade, Transportation & Utilities+8,200
• Government*+7,800 (Government includes public education and public health services.)
• Financial Activities+5,700
• Information+5,500
• Manufacturing+1,800

Sectors With Job Losses:

• Natural Resources & Mining-200

Labor officials said that monthly payroll employment estimates are preliminary and subject to revision as more data becomes available the following month. The federal government calculates New York State’s unemployment rate based partly upon the results of the Current Population Survey, which contacts approximately 3,100 households in New York State each month.

Note: Seasonally adjusted data are used to provide the most valid month-to-month comparison. Non-seasonally adjusted data are valuable in year-to-year comparisons of the same month; for example, December 2014 versus December 2015.