The Hudson Valley continued to add jobs in May, and along with New York City and its other suburbs, fueled statewide annual job growth.
The unemployment rate in New York dropped two percentage points to 4.7 percent in May, according to the state Department of Labor. That matched the U.S. rate and was the state”™s lowest since August 2007.
But strong numbers in and around the city masked weak or bad numbers elsewhere.
Last month the state lost 15,000 nonfarm jobs. Year-to-year numbers were better, with a gain of 81,800 nonfarm jobs, but the city and its suburbs accounted for all of that and more, with 102,200 jobs.
Most of the jobs added in the past year, 85,400, were in the city, followed by Orange, Rockland and Westchester counties with 10,200, Nassau and Suffolk counties with 4,400, and Dutchess and Putnam counties with 2,200.
Downstate job growth was not enough to keep up with the national growth rate. Total nonfarm jobs increased by 1.7 percent nationally but only 0.9 percent statewide over the past year. New York City came in at 2.0 percent growth, but Orange, Rockland and Westchester fell short of the national pace, at 1.4 percent.
The one month snapshot shows the three county region gaining an estimated 4,500 nonfarm jobs. The service sector led with 4,600 jobs, followed by leisure and hospitality with 2,900 jobs from April to May.
The information and education ”“ health sectors both lost about 1,200 jobs. Weakness in the information sector was attributed to a strike at Verizon Communications that idled about 1,100 workers here.
The job counts are based on a monthly payroll survey of 18,000 New York employers by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate is based on the current population survey and a monthly survey of 3,100 households.
