The region”™s job numbers continue to inch upward, even as a business advocacy group sees uncharted terrain ahead.
New to everyone”™s factoring are national health care and an upped state minimum wage.
From February 2012 to February 2013, three counties ”“ Westchester, Rockland and Putnam ”“ added some 2,600 private-sector jobs, a 0.6 percent increase.
The trades, transportation and utilities added about 2,000 jobs; education and health services added 1,700 jobs.
The unemployment rate in Westchester is 7.6 percent, sixth lowest in the state, falling from 8 percent in January.
Putnam County and Rockland County have an unemployment rate of 7.1 percent. The larger cohort of the Hudson Valley region (Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Ulster, Orange, Dutchess, Sullivan) carries an unemployment rate of 8 percent. The state is divided into 14 economic regions and the Hudson Valley placed behind only the Long Island region for low unemployment.
There are 464,400 people employed in private sector jobs in Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties, a 0.3 percent increase from January and a 0.6 percent increase from last year.
From January to February of this year, those three counties added 1,300 private sector jobs, a 0.3 percent increase; education and health services added 1,800 jobs, a 1.5 increase; while the trades, transportation and utilities shed 1,800 jobs, a 0.7 percent decrease and likely affected by seasonal shifts.
John Ravitz, executive vice president of The Business Council of Westchester, said more jobs being created is a positive, but businesses face challenges ahead, including the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the minimum wage increase recently approved by the state.
“Everything from payroll taxes to workman”™s comp is going to go up,” Ravitz said. “That”™s all part of the puzzle if you”™re going to decide to hire somebody. A lot of it is still very unknown.”
Ravitz said many businesses that downsized in the wake of the economic recession have found that productivity did not suffer, which could cause companies to not rehire people in an improved economic climate.
“It will be interesting to watch whether that maintains itself,” Ravitz said. “It”™s a wait-and-see process to see if it happens.”
From February 2012 to February 2013, New York state added 81,600 private sector jobs, a 1.1 percent increase, and month to month, added 19,000 private sector jobs, a 0.3 percent increase.
In the tri-county region, government shed 700 jobs year to year, a 0.8 percent decrease, but gained 900 jobs month to month, a 1 percent increase.
“The regional job market continues to expand, albeit at a slower pace than last year,” Johny Nelson, state labor market analyst for the Department of Labor, said in a statement. “Nonetheless, there are still more industries in the private sector that are reporting job gains than losses.”
The national unemployment rate is 7.7 percent, down 0.2 percent from last month and 0.6 percent from last year.
