New York’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.8 percent in October, falling below the national average of 5 percent, as the state”™s private sector workforce reached a record high.
The state Department of Labor reported this month that the number of private sector jobs in October 2015 jumped by 30,300, or 0.4 percent, from October 2014, increasing to a total private workforce of 7,859,000. The state”™s private sector has seen job increases in 50 of the last 58 months.
The Hudson Valley region ”“ Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties ”“ also saw strong growth numbers in the private sector with five of nine industries adding jobs last month, increasing the area”™s workforce 1.2 percent, or 9,300 jobs, to a total of 778,000 employed in the region.
Education and health services outpaced the other industries that also saw workforce increases by adding 6,800 jobs in the seven-county region, up 3.5 percent from October 2014 and the strongest year-to-year growth since 1999, according to Johny Nelson, a market analyst for the state Department of Labor in the White Plains.
The Hudson Valley education and health services’ growth was in large part due to Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties, which increased by 6,500 jobs, a 4.6 percent jump in October 2015 from the same period last year.
For the first time since 1997, manufacturing in the Hudson Valley increased on a year-to-year basis in October, netting 600 jobs last month, a 1.3-percent uptick from the same month a year ago. This growth was also reflected in the Westchester-Rockland-Orange counties area where manufacturing jobs increased 2.7 percent over the year, adding 800 jobs during that time.
Other industries in the Hudson Valley that increased job numbers in the last year were: natural resources, mining and construction; leisure and hospitality; and other services.
The seven-county region saw the most job losses in financial activities, which lost 1,100 jobs last month compared to October 2014. The financial activities sector has consistently seen job losses on a year-to-year basis for at least the last two months.
The government decreased by 1,200 workers in the Hudson Valley over the last year. Local governments in Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties shed 600 jobs, decreasing 0.7 percent in October 2015 compared to a year ago. The tri-county region”™s state government jobs were unchanged and federal jobs decreased 1 percent, or a net loss of 100 jobs over the year.
