The unemployment rate in the lower Hudson Valley has crept up over the past year, to 4.5 percent from 4.2 percent, even as more people have landed jobs, according to numbers released by the state Department of Labor, .
An estimated 789,900 people were employed in Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties in June. That”™s 3,600 more than a year ago.
But as more workers entered the labor market, the number of unemployed people also rose by 2,700, to 37,200, in the past 12 months.
Unemployment in June was 4.4 percent in Rockland, 4.5 percent in Westchester and 4.6 percent in Orange.
State and national trends were positive. New York added an estimated 109,400 jobs over the past year, dropping the unemployment rate to 4.5 percent from 4.7. The U.S. added nearly 2.1 million jobs and lowered the national unemployment rate to 4.5 percent from 5.1.
The region”™s lowest local unemployment rates were Port Chester, at 3.2 percent; the town of Rye, at 3.3 percent; and White Plains, 3.7 percent.
The highest rates were in Newburgh, 6.3 percent; Mount Vernon, 6 percent; and Yonkers, 5.2 percent.
Yonkers, with the region”™s largest work force, had both the most employed people, 91,700, and the most unemployed, 5,100.
Unemployment rates are calculated with a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics model and based partly on a survey of 3,100 households. The numbers can be revised in following months as more information becomes available. They are not adjusted for seasonal influences, such as holiday and summer jobs.
