The New York State Department of Labor in its March jobs report touted a statewide unemployment rate that hit its lowest mark since August 2008 and a private sector job count that reached an all-time high.
In March, the state”™s private sector job count increased by 8,600, or 0.1 percent, to 7,753,700, according to the Labor Department.
With a 0.1 percent gain in jobs from February to March, state growth is on par with the nation, which gained 129,000 private sector jobs in that period.
Statewide unemployment hit its lowest level in March since August 2008, according to preliminary figures. The jobless rate dropped to 5.7 percent, from 5.8 percent in February and 6.6 percent in March 2014.
New York City”™s unemployment rate remained unchanged from February to March at 6.6 percent.
The state’s unemployment rate of 5.7 percent is just slightly above the nation’s rate of 5.5 percent but well below New York City’s unemployment rate of 6.6 percent.
However, private sector job growth in the Westchester-Orange-Rockland labor market grew by 1 percent from March 2014 to March 2015 with a gain of 5,500 jobs ”“ significantly behind the rest of the state and nation.
During that same time frame, the state has added 146,300 jobs and nationwide just more than 3 million jobs have been added.
“While the regional job market continued to expand, it is important to note that private sector job growth in the Hudson Valley continues to lag that of the state (+1.9 percent) and the nation (+2.6 percent),” Johny Nelson, a labor market analyst with the Labor Department, said in a statement.
However, Nelson noted the Westchester-Rockland-Orange area has the second fastest growing private sector job growth (behind Kingston) in the Hudson Valley.
Since March 2014, private sector jobs have grown most rapidly in metro areas such as New York City (3 percent) Kingston (2.2 percent) and the Utica-Rome region (2 percent).
By industry, the Labor Department said private educational and health services added the most jobs (50,000) of any major industry sector over the past year, specifically in health care and social assistance (42,900), and ambulatory health care services (24,500).
Professional and business services had the second largest increase in jobs (32,000) between March 2014 and March 2015Â ”“ mostly in professional, scientific and technical services (22,300), especially computer systems design and related services (9,000), according to the Labor Department.
Over the past 12 months, manufacturing lost more jobs (1,800) than any other major industry sector in the state. Sector losses were centered in nondurable goods (2,000), especially apparel manufacturing (1,100) as well as natural resources and mining, which lost 200 jobs over the past year, according to the Labor Department.
