Rockland-Orange-Westchester Sees Small Increase in Private Sector Jobs

Putnam and Dutchess counties were one of three metro areas in New York that experienced declines in their respective private sector job counts between April 2014 and April 2015.

The declines were slight, according to state Labor Department officials. Putnam-Dutchess saw a drop of just 0.2 percent in private sector jobs, compared to Ithaca (-0.6 percent) and Binghamton (-0.5 percent).

Every other metro area in the state grew at least slightly. The Orange-Rockland-Westchester metro area grew private sector jobs by 0.7 percent.

The big gain was in New York City, where private sector jobs grew by 2.7 percent in the past 12 months.

Overall, the unemployment rate in New York state remained unchanged at 5.7 percent in April 2015.

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