LI employers added 43,600 jobs since last May

The region’s leisure and hospitality businesses are in for a busy summer tourism season based on new jobs data, economists say.

The Island’s economy had 43,600 more jobs last month than in May 2021 — an annual growth rate of 3.4% —  with the biggest gains coming from food, beverage and lodging businesses, the state Labor Department reported Thursday. The Island had over 1.31 million jobs in May.

Hiring in leisure and hospitality far outpaced growth in all other sectors in the economy, adding 13,600 jobs year-over-year. From April into May, the Island’s hospitality businesses added 5,500 jobs

“Strong growth in leisure and hospitality in May goes along with my view that we’re going to have a strong summer tourism season,” said John Rizzo, economist and professor at Stony Brook University.

“There’s still a lot of pent-up demand for travel and vacations,” he said. On top of that,  high air fares,  ongoing airline staffing shortages  leading to flight cancellations, and high gas prices may mean more residents from New York City and nearby metro areas seek to travel to Long Island rather than venturing farther away.

Over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, U.S. airlines cancelled more than 2,500 flights due in large part to pilot and other staff shortages.

“I think that plays to Long Island’s advantage,” Rizzo said.

Other sectors  with strong job gains were transportation and utilities, which added 8,000 positions, and construction, which added 7,200 jobs, year over year.

“While overall gains [in May] were slightly slower than we would typically see, I think taken together with April’s report, these two reports are positive for the region's labor market,”  said Shital Patel, labor market analyst with the state Labor Department's Hicksville office.

Patel said although Long Island remains about 41,000 jobs — or 3% — below job levels in May 2019, before the pandemic began, the gap has continued to shrink.

In April, the region was 41,700 jobs, or 3.1%, below pre-pandemic levels. In January, the Island was more than 50,000 jobs down, indicating continued albeit slow job growth, Patel said.  

“It’s slow progress but we are chipping away at the deficit,” she said.

Rizzo agreed that the Island was moving toward regaining all the jobs it lost from the pandemic, but the pace was sluggish.

The region's jobs recovery has “been a little slower than I thought it would be,” Rizzo said. “It’s sort of leveled off.”

Statewide, there were 474,400 more jobs in May than a year ago, a growth rate of 5.3%, according to state data. There were nearly 9.5 million jobs across New York State last month.