Valley slowly recaptures jobs lost to downturn

The seven-county Hudson Valley region ”“ Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, Dutchess and Sullivan ”“ has recaptured some jobs lost to the recession, but the job distribution has been uneven, according to the latest analysis from the Marist College Bureau of Economic Research.

The latest “Economic Report of the Hudson Valley” reported employment at 1,128,500 and labor force participation at 1,189,500 in the Hudson Valley peaked in July of 2008. Employment reached a post-recession low in February 2011 at 1,024,400 while the labor force participation bottomed out at 1,112,000.

The private-sector job count in the Hudson Valley peaked in 2Q 2008 and reached a post-recession low in 4Q 2010. As of 4Q 2012, fully 90 percent of the estimated 59,200 private sector jobs lost due to the recession had been recaptured, Marist reported.

“Private sector job creation has been expanding at a greater rate than both labor force participation and employment,” said bureau director Christy Huebner Caridi. “This speaks not simply to the structural changes in the labor force witnessed since the Great Recession but also to the dependence of Hudson Valley residents on job creation outside the Hudson Valley region.”

Sectors including leisure and hospitality, trade, transportation and utilities, and professional/business services have created more jobs since the recession than were lost as a result of the downturn. In contrast, the job count in both the manufacturing sector and the information sector continues to decline.

Ӣ Year over year, labor-force participation in the Hudson Valley region advanced 0.22 percent (2,500), rising from 1,118,333 participants in 4Q 2011 to 1,120,833 in 4Q 2012.

Ӣ Because the regional labor force increased while employment fell, the regional unemployment rate posted a year-over-year increase of 0.38 percentage points, from 6.86 percent in 4Q 2011 to 7.25 percent in 4Q 2012.

”¢Â Year over year, the regional job count was little changed, falling from 911,500 in 4Q 2011 to 910,933 in 4Q 2012.

Ӣ As of 4Q 2012, one out of every 5.68 jobs in the Hudson Valley was in the public sector compared with one out of every 5.56 in 4Q 2011.

Ӣ The private-sector job count advanced in education and health (4,267), professional and business services (1,467), leisure and hospitality (1,267), trade, transportation and utilities (100) and other services (833).

Ӣ Regionally, the average weekly private-sector wage posted a year-over-year decline of .22 percent, falling from $973 in 3Q 2011 to $971 in 3Q 2012 (most current data).

Ӣ Food-stamp dependence continued to advance with the number of recipients increasing 5.91 percent from 220,007 persons per month in 4Q 2011 to 233,017 persons in 4Q 2012. Over the same one-year period, the monthly expenditure for food stamps increased $6.42 million from $31.54 million per month to $38 million per month.

Ӣ The housing market is beginning to improve. As of 4Q 2012, the median selling price of an existing single-family home rose above the post-recession trough in every county in the region with the exception of Orange County.