Top 4 Fields in the NY Private Sector

YORKTOWN, NY — New York State’s private sector job count climbed between January 2016 and January 2017, according to the most recent figures released by the New York State Department of Labor — but Putnam and Dutchess counties did not fare so well.

In January 2017, New York State’s private sector job count barely increased by 28,500, just 0.4 percent, to 8,035,600. But it was a new record high.

“The State’s labor market continued to expand in January 2017," said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Deputy Director of the New York State Department of Labor’s Division of Research and Statistics. "Not only did the statewide economy reach a new record high of more than 8,000,000 private sector jobs, but our state’s unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in almost a decade."

The Dutchess-Putnam metro area was one of just two in the state to lose private sector jobs during that timeframe.

Private sector jobs in the Kingston metro area grew by 3.1 percent, though the area continued to shed government jobs. And private sector jobs in the Orange-Rockland-Westchester area rose by 1.4 percent.

Meanwhile, private health and education was the area where private sector growth continued to lead the state from January 2016-2017, while manufacturing in the state continued to decline.

Find or post local job opportunities on the Jobs Board on Yorktown-Somers Patch.

Sectors With Job Gains:

• Educational & Health Services (not including public sector jobs) +65,200
• Professional & Business Services +38,500
• Trade, Transportation & Utilities +13,400
• Leisure & Hospitality +12,000
• Government* +8,600
• Information +5,800
• Other Services +5,100

Sectors With Job Losses:

• Manufacturing -15,800
• Financial Activities -500
• Construction -100

The table below compares the over-the-year change in jobs by major industry sector in New York State occurring between January 2016 and January 2017. Thirteen metro areas in New York State added private sector jobs over the past year, with the most rapid growth in these areas:

• Ithaca (+6.3%)
• Kingston (+3.1%)
• Nassau-Suffolk (+2.3%)
• New York City (+2.2%)
• Utica-Rome (+2.2%)
• Watertown-Fort Drum (+2.1%)
• Over the past year, two metro areas in the state – Dutchess-Putnam (-1.7%) and Rochester (-0.2%) – lost private sector jobs.

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. 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.

Image via Shutterstock.