Unemployment Continues To Hit LI Hard, Breaking June Records

LONG ISLAND, NY — The New York Labor Department released preliminary unemployment numbers for July, and Long Island saw even more people out of work than in previous months — breaking June's standing as the second-worst month for jobs in the area in 30 years.

According to preliminary data from the state Department of Labor, unemployment on Long Island was 13.8 percent in July, up from 12.8 percent in June. That equates to 215,100 unemployed workers, according to state data. The closures caused by the coronavirus have caused a massive wave in unemployment — the rate was 3.8 percent last July.

The unemployment rate is worse than the Great Recession that began in 2008, when Long Island's unemployment topped out at 8.2 percent in early 2010.

The worst month on Long Island was April, which brought 16.1 percent unemployment, or 229,300 people without jobs. It was the worst job loss on record. In March, before the closures began in earnest, unemployment was at 3.8 percent. June was the second-highest month of unemployment ever, until the numbers for July were released.

According to a detailed breakdown by the state, both Nassau and Suffolk counties are suffering similar levels of unemployment. In July, Nassau's unemployment rate was 14 percent and Suffolk's was 13.6 percent.

New York City was the hardest-hit area in the state, with an unemployment rate of 20 percent in July — the second-highest it's been since the pandemic began. It's just slightly lower than the former high of June, when unemployment was at 20.4 percent in the city.

The unemployment rate state-wide for July was 16 percent, which is the highest ever — it also breaks the record that was just set in June, when unemployment was 15.5 percent. According to the state, there were 1,548,600 New Yorkers out of work in July — the largest number since records began to be kept in 1976, and more than 87,000 more since June.

According to the state, the unemployment numbers come from a survey of 18,000 businesses in New York, which does not include self-employed workers, agricultural workers, unpaid family workers and domestic workers employed by private households.