Suffolk Unemployment, Social Services Requests Decline as Economy Rebounds

Photo: Michael Seratt/Flickr Creative Commons

On Friday, the closely watched unemployment figures for the month of July were released by the U.S. Labor Department in Washington. The U.S. economy added 209,0000 jobs. The national statistics show an unemployment rate of 6.2 percent which closely mirrors the numbers from the Suffolk County Department of Labor, Licensing and Consumer Affairs for unemployment in June, which stood at 6.3 percent locally.

Legislator Jay Schneiderman credits Suffolk County’s improved employment statistics to county legislators holding the line when it came to raising property taxes. “We’ve done our job,” he said. “We’ve kept property taxes down and that helps the entire economy in general. The trend now is a very positive one. We’ve seen sustained slow growth in the economy that’s largely funded by the County’s sales tax, the hotel and motel tax as well as robust business in tourism, agriculture, the service sector and the booming home construction industry.”

Schneiderman said that while he’d still like to see the economy and jobs grow more he’s pleased to report that in recent months his office has received substantially fewer requests for social services assistance for families in need of help paying for food and fuel.

“The East End has a lot of people coming out to second homes,” Schneiderman said. “They may not earn their money here, but they spend dollars here.”

According to Business Insider this month marks the sixth straight month of U.S. job gains in excess of 200,000 and is the longest period of such sustained increases in employment since 1997.

The national unemployment rate rose to 6.2 percent in July, which is 1/10 of a percentage higher than in the month of June.

Unemployment reached its recent peak in the United States in 2009 when more than 10 percent of the workforce was out of work. There are now two unemployed workers for every job opening in the U.S. as compared to six for every opening in 2009.