Long Island Unemployment Continues To Fall

LONG ISLAND, NY — As the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic continues, Long Island's unemployment rate has kept declining. Figures from the state Labor Department show that unemployment in the area has continued to fall for most of this year, and is getting back toward pre-pandemic levels.

Data from the Department of Labor shows that the unemployment rate for Long Island in April was 5.4 percent, which is down from 6 percent in March. It is also (understandably) much lower than last April, when the unemployment rate hit an all-time high of 17.5 percent.

The unemployment rate was the same for both Nassau and Suffolk counties — 5.4 percent. According to the DOL, that equates to 77,500 people without jobs in April. Last April, there were 241,000 Long Islanders out of work.

Long Island's unemployment rate had been falling steadily since the April peak, but was still at historic highs for most of the year. Unemployment jumped back up to over 6 percent in January and February, and is now coming back down.

September was the first month since the pandemic began when Long Island's unemployment was finally lower than the Great Recession that began in 2008, when it topped out at 8.2 percent in early 2010, according to statistics from the Department of Labor. In February of 2020, before the pandemic hit the area, Long Island's unemployment rate was 3.8 percent.

Overall, the employment rate in the state in April was 7.8 percent, which was down from 8.4 percent in March.

New York City continues to be the hardest-hit area, with an unemployment rate of 10.8 percent. But that's down from March, when the unemployment rate was 11.2 percent.