Job market cools after September bump

October was another active month for the Westchester County job market, with a slight decrease in open jobs posted ”“ about 7 percent vs. September ”“ across multiple industries and towns. That followed a month that showed an 18 percent increase in job market activity. This news follows in the footsteps of the national reports that indicated a strong level of hiring for October.

Some key items of note regarding September:

· White Plains continues to show itself as the hub of job market activity, followed this month by Yonkers and Tarrytown.

· The industries most actively hiring this past month were transportation, retail and health care.

· Top job categories were logistics, sales and health services.

In looking at this month”™s data there are a few story lines, albeit without the benefit of broader data as reported by state, local and federal parties, all of whom have delayed their delivery of such info due to the government shutdown. To start, the market is likely to see an increase in market activity tied to seasonal jobs feeding mostly the retail sectors in the county. Peeling away those numbers and focusing on “nonseasonal” jobs the picture is a bit more unclear. September”™s robust increase suggested the possibility of future momentum and growth, but the slight decrease this month now shows that last month was the typical post-summer bump after a consistently quiet August.

The Westchester market is poised to grab some of the high level of growth activity ongoing in New York City as it relates to the tech sector, with a number of promising commercial real estate deals recently announced that suggest tech firms are migrating north to escape the higher rents while also tapping the county”™s talent base. The county would benefit greatly from any momentum it can generate towards building a base around the tech market and seems to be on its way towards doing so.

Despite the building momentum the outlook for the rest of Q4 of 2013 now suggests a mostly neutral level of activity, with greater growth potentially for q1 2014. That can only be complicated by the politics tied to our national budget and debt ceiling, as well as the ongoing issues with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act and their effect on business. Stay tuned.

David Lewis is president/CEO of WestchesterCountyJobs.com, with more than 100,000 area visitors a month to his network of job boards viewing jobs from more than 4,000 area employers. His monthly reports talk to the condition of the job market as measured by data from his sites as well as data from state, federal and industry sources in the public domain. Learn more at WestchesterCountyJobs.com.