What a difference a year makes.
At this time last year, the Hudson Valley unemployment rate stood at 7.7 percent and the state Department of Labor had just announced that private sector jobs were virtually unchanged in the region from July 2009 to July 2010.
Fast forward 12 months and the region”™s unemployment rate has dropped several notches to 7.1 percent. Since July 2010, private-sector industries in the Hudson Valley have added 9,100 jobs, amounting to a 1.3 percent year-over-year increase ”“ the biggest such increase seen in the region in nearly four years.
The unemployment picture also showed monthly gains, with the July unemployment rate down slightly from June”™s 7.2 percent rate. Putnam, Rockland and Dutchess counties all saw drops in their respective unemployment rates from June to July, with Orange County experiencing a slight increase.
Among the counties that saw decreased unemployment rates, unemployment in Dutchess County dropped from 7.8 percent in June to 7.5 percent in July, unemployment in Putnam County dropped from 6.8 percent to 6.6 percent and unemployment in Rockland dropped from 6.7 percent to 6.6 percent. The unemployment rate in Orange County increased from 7.9 percent to 8 percent.
Statewide, the New York economy added 29,400 nonfarm jobs from June to July, with 14,100 of those coming in the private sector. Those gains represented seasonally adjusted increases of 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent respectively, giving the state slightly better job growth numbers than the nation as a whole, which added jobs at a rate of just 0.1 percent over the past month.
While the rates are still elevated compared with pre-recession levels, the year-to-year decline coupled with private sector job growth has the labor department”™s Hudson Valley analyst feeling “overly optimistic” ”“ in a good way.
“As a labor market analyst I”™m feeling overly optimistic,” said John Nelson, labor department analyst for the Hudson Valley. “This is welcome news for job-seekers in this area.”
In the Hudson Valley, private-sector job growth was spread throughout several industries, with the strongest push coming from the leisure and hospitality industry, which has added 4,100 jobs in the past year.
Additionally, the professional and business services sector, which comprises business-to-business companies, added 3,000 positions since July 2010, the private education and health services industry added 2,400 jobs and the trade, transportation and utilities sector, which includes retailers, added 1,900 positions.
Nelson said the nature of the job growth, which came across a number of diverse industries, demonstrated the increasing stability of the local economy.
“What we should really focus on is the fact that now more than ever, more industries are joining the effort,” he said. “I definitely think it”™s a positive.”
An increase in hiring by temp agencies, which is one of the aspects falling under the professional services heading, also has Nelson feeling upbeat.
“What”™s even more pronounced within that (sector) is you have an increase in hiring at temp agencies,” he said, adding that such an increase typically precedes hiring for full-time positions.
The construction, natural resources and mining industry and the manufacturing industry, which shed 1,500 positions and 600 positions respectively in the past year for the Hudson Valley, were the among lone black marks on an otherwise encouraging jobs report. Additionally, the government, which cut 2,500 positions in the past year, continued to shed jobs in the Hudson Valley.
Nelson attributed job losses in construction and manufacturing to the still-slow housing market, but a local economist predicted that impending infrastructure projects in the state ”“ from bridges to dams to highways ”“ could have a positive effect on those industries.
“All of these things (infrastructure improvements) have to be coming about,” said Farrokh Hormozi, professor of economics and public administration at Pace University. “That has to be one of the areas that we are looking at, to help the construction industry particularly on the high-tech level.”
