Led by hiring in education and health services, private-sector employment in the Putnam-Rockland-Westchester labor market grew by 4,700 jobs in January, a 1 percent increase from January 2013, according to the state Department of Labor.
Employment at professional and business services companies in the tricounty area also rose markedly in January from a year ago. That white-collar services sector filled 3,700 more jobs than it did in January last year, a 5.2 percent increase.
In Westchester County, the January unemployment rate dropped to 6 percent from 7.7 percent in 2013, according to the Labor Department. Employment levels in the county, however, declined from the holiday season in December, when Westchester had a 5.2 percent unemployment rate.
The Labor Department reported 28,000 Westchester residents were out of work in January, compared with 24,500 unemployed in December and 36,300 in January 2013.
Unemployment in the Putnam-Rockland-Westchester labor market stood at 5.8 percent in January, down from 7.5 percent a year earlier but an increase from last December, when unemployment in the three counties was at 5.1 percent of the workforce.
The three-county area had the second lowest January unemployment rate among the state”™s 10 metropolitan statistical areas, trailing only Ithaca”™s 5 percent unemployment rate.
The Labor Department”™s preliminary employment figures for January show the three counties in the lower Hudson Valley added 3,200 nonfarm jobs ”“ including private sector and government employment ”“ from January 2013, a 0.6 percent increase.
The seven-county Hudson Valley labor market netted an additional 10,500 private sector jobs from January 2013 to January this year, a 1.5 percent increase. Nonfarm employment in the region grew by 7,700 jobs over the same one-year period, a 0.9 percent increase.
The Labor Department”™s Hudson Valley regional statistics also include employers in Dutchess, Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties.
The Hudson Valley”™s 6.3 percent unemployment rate in January was the second lowest among the state”™s 10 labor market regions. Long Island had the lowest unemployment at 5.9 percent. Unemployment in New York City stood at 8.1 percent in January, down from 9.7 percent a year earlier.
Statewide employment in the private sector grew by 119,600 jobs in January compared with a year earlier, a 1.7 percent increase.
In Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, employers in education and health services had 4,000 more jobs filled this January than in January 2013, a 3.4 percent increase. Within that employment category, jobs in health care and social assistance grew by 3,600 for the one-year period, a 4 percent increase. Ambulatory health care centers added 1,300 jobs for the year, a 3.9 percent increase.
Hiring for education and health services workers in this area in January outpaced statewide gains in that field, which added 37,500 jobs throughout New York, a 2.1 percent increase.
The tricounty area”™s leisure and hospitality industry and local governments shed the most jobs in January compared with a year ago.
From the holiday season in December through January, hotels, bars and restaurants lost 2,000 jobs in the region, a 4.3 percent decrease. For the one-year period from January 2013, the industry shed 800 jobs in the area, a 1.8 percent decline.
Local government employment in the area declined by 2,400 jobs from December last year through January, a 3.4 percent drop. In January this year, municipalities in the tricounty area employed 1,300 fewer workers than a year ago, a 1.9 percent decline.
The $3.9 billion Tappan Zee Bridge project”™s expected impact on construction employment in this area has not yet been seen in state Labor Department statistics. Jobs in construction, mining and natural resources in the tricounty area were 2,100 fewer in January than a year ago, a 7.6 percent decrease. That employment sector in January shed 2,000 jobs from its total workforce here as of December.
