NY Jobless Rate Drops to Pre-Great Recession Level, Hudson Valley Levels Tick Upward

YORKTOWN, NY — The New York State Department of Labor Tuesday released preliminary local area unemployment rates for February 2017, and some but not all local counties were on the state's Lowest 10 Rates list.

Also, in February 2017, New York’s statewide unemployment rate decreased from 4.6 percent to 4.4 percent, its lowest level since April 2007. Pushing the statewide rate lower was a steep drop in the New York City rate, which declined from 4.5 percent to 4.3 percent, its lowest level on records going back to 1976.

However, all three metro areas in the Hudson Valley saw unemployment rates rise slightly.

“The State’s labor market continued to expand in February 2017. Private sector employers in the state added 12,300 jobs, while our statewide unemployment rate decreased from 4.6 percent to 4.4 percent in February, which reflects the continued growth of the state’s economy,” said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Deputy Director of the New York State Department of Labor’s Division of Research and Statistics.

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The counties in New York State with the lowest unemployment rates in February 2017 included:

• New York County (4.2%)
• Queens County (4.2%)
• Nassau County (4.3%)
• Albany County (4.4%)
• Saratoga County (4.4%)
• Tompkins County (4.4%)
• Rockland County (4.5%)
• Columbia County (4.6%)
• Putnam County (4.6%)
• Dutchess County (4.7%)

Compare that to Orange County, 4.8 percent, Ulster County 5.1 percent and Westchester County 4.8 percent.

But the whole story is that metro area jobless rates rose in the past year.

• Dutchess-Putnam: to 4.7 from 4.4%
• Kingston: to 5.1 from 4.8%
• Orange-Rockland-Westchester: to 4.7 from 4.5%

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.

Photo credit: Andreas Klinke Johannsen via Flickr Creative Commons.