NYS Jobless Rate Reaches Lowest Level In More Than A Decade

The Hudson Valley gained again in private sector jobs, according to the most recent data from the New York State Department of Labor. The fastest-growing metro area in the HV was Kingston, with a 2.9 percent jump in private sector jobs.

Westchester-Rockland's private sector jobs grew by 1.1 percent; and the Dutchess-Putnam metro area gained .08 percent.

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Most of the Hudson Valley outpaced the state as a whole. In August 2018, New York State’s private sector job count rose by 8,900, or 0.1%, to 8,181,100. New York State’s economy has added 1,087,000 private sector jobs and experienced employment growth in 79 of the past 92 months, labor department officials said.

The statewide unemployment rate in August 2018 was at its lowest level since January 2007. Contributing to this statewide rate drop was a very slight decline in New York City’s unemployment rate, which fell from 4.2 percent in July to 4.1 percent in August 2018, reaching its lowest level on record (current records date back to 1976). In addition, the number of unemployed New Yorkers fell in August, from 419,500 to 408,900, its lowest level since February 2007, labor department officials said.

“New York State’s economy continued to show strength in August 2018. Our state’s private sector job count grew by 8,900, while the statewide unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in more than 11½ years,” said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Director of the New York State Department of Labor’s Division of Research and Statistics.

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. Monthly payroll employment estimates are preliminary and subject to revision as more data become available the following month. The federal government calculates New York State’s unemployment rate based partly upon the results of the Current Population Survey, which contacts approximately 3,100 households in New York State each month.

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