After adding 3,900 jobs in August, the private sector job count has increased in New York state for 21 consecutive months, the longest such streak in nearly 25 years, according to data released by the state Department of Labor. However, the numbers for the Putnam-Rockland-Westchester metropolitan statistical area are relatively unchanged over the past year.
The 3,900 jobs added statewide in the private sector in August were an increase of 0.1 percent and pushed the state”™s overall private sector job count to 7,605,000, an all-time high. Meanwhile, the state”™s unemployment rate fell from 6.6 percent to 6.4 percent, its lowest level since late 2008.
In the Putnam-Rockland-Westchester metropolitan statistical area, there were 569,200 people engaged in nonfarm employment in August, an increase of 400 jobs, or 0.1 percent, over the previous year. Nonfarm employment was down 0.9 percent from July, as 5,200 jobs were lost over the previous month. In the private sector, the same area lost 2,500 jobs over the past month, a half-percentage point decrease, despite gaining 2,300 jobs, a half-percentage point gain, over the past year.
Job losses in August were felt evenly across government and the private sector, with 2,500 fewer private sector jobs than in July and 2,700 fewer public sector jobs, including 2,600 in local government. In the private sector, 400 jobs were lost in the financial activities field, 500 were lost in the professional and business services field, and 700 were lost in education and health services.
For the seven-county Hudson Valley region, which includes Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester counties, the private sector gained 5,800 jobs, an increase of 0.8 percent, in the 12-month period ending in August. The educational and health services field added 5,600 jobs, a 3.1 percent jump, while leisure and hospitality added 2,500 jobs, a 2.7 percent increase.
The state”™s private sector job count is based on a payroll survey of 18,000 New York employers conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor”™s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
