The Hudson Valley region”™s private sector added 4,700 jobs in September from a year ago, a 0.6 percent increase, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday. Private-sector employers statewide through September added 120,500 jobs over the year, a 1.6 percent increase.
The seven-county Hudson region also lagged behind private-sector job growth nationwide in September, which rose 2.3 percent from September 2013.
The Kingston labor market showed the largest job growth in the region, 1.3 percent, for the one-year period through September.
The September unemployment rate in the Hudson Valley dropped to 5.1 percent, according to the state Labor Department. That was a slight decrease from August, when the jobless rate here was 5.4 percent, and a 1.3 percent decrease from September last year. A total of 56,200 workers in the region filed for unemployment insurance in September, down from 61,000 in August and 71,200 in September 2013.
The Hudson Valley had the third lowest September unemployment rate among the state’s 10 labor market regions, again trailing Long Island and the Capital region.
Putnam County, with 4.4. percent unemployment last month, tied for fourth with Saratoga County among  the top five counties in the state with the lowest jobless rates for the month. Hamilton County in the Adirondacks led the state with a 3.8 percent unemployment rate.
Rockland County had a 4.8 percent unemployment rate in September, followed by Westchester at 5 percent, Dutchess County at 5.1 percent and Orange County at 5.5 percent.
The region last month had 759,100 private-sector jobs, 600 jobs fewer than in August, a 0.1 percent decrease. The Putnam-Rockland-Westchester labor market ended September with 484,500 private-sector jobs, an increase of 1,600 jobs, or 0.3 percent, from August employment levels. The more heavily populated tri-county area accounted for 2,900 of the total private-sector jobs added last month in the Hudson Valley from a year ago, a 0.6 percent increase.
Educational and health services employers, the region”™s largest job sector, again led the Hudson Valley in hiring, adding 3,700 jobs in September from a year ago, a 2 percent increase. Johny Nelson, regional labor market analyst at the state Labor Department in White Plains, said that growth was largely centered in the Putnam-Rockland-Westchester area, where September employment in educational and health services fields increased by 3,300 jobs, or 2.8 percent.
“Recent expansions at several medical facilities in the area could further strengthen growth in that sector,” Nelson said.
Professional and business services employment in the region grew by 1,600 jobs in September from a year ago, a 1.5 percent increase. That sector, though, shed 300 jobs from August to September, a 0.3 percent decrease.
The Hudson Valley”™s leisure and hospitality industry also showed job gains this September from the same month last year, adding 1,500 jobs, a 1.8 percent increase. However, the seasonally dependent industry”™s 86,900 jobs last month in the sprawling region were 6,700 fewer than in August, a 7.2 percent decline.
The Hudson Valley’s manufacturing sector continued to lose jobs in September, shedding 1,000 from a year ago, a 2.1 percent decrease. The state Labor Department reported a total of 46,300 manufacturing jobs in the region in September.
Manufacturers in the Putnam-Rockland-Westchester market shed 800 jobs from September 2013 to last month, a 3.3 percent decrease. Manufacturers of computers and electronic products in the tri-county area shed 300 jobs over the one-year period, a 7.9 percent decrease. Employment at chemical manufacturing companies was down 200 jobs in September from a year ago, a 4.8 percent decrease.
Labor Department officials said the statewide unemployment rate dropped from 6.4 percent in August to 6.2 percent in September, the lowest level since October 2008. September marked the 22nd consecutive month of private-sector job growth statewide, the longest streak since recordkeeping started in 1990, according to the Labor Department.
