LI adds private-sector jobs in February

The Long Island economy had 12,100 more private-sector jobs in February than it had the year before, its second-best showing since the economy began adding jobs again eight months ago, according to preliminary state data released Thursday. The biggest post-recession gain so far was the 13,000 jobs added in the November period.

Still, job growth remained sluggish and some key categories continued to bleed jobs.

While the latest private-sector gain was a "respectable figure," Michael Crowell, senior economist in the state Labor Department's Hicksville office, added, "We are still adding jobs at well below the rate we were adding before the recession. It . . . was closer to about 16,000 to 18,000 a year" in 2007.

And the public sector, or government category, lost 1,500 jobs in the February period, cutting overall job growth to 10,600. Also, the Island's five sectors with the highest wages, including financial activities, manufacturing and government, continued to lose jobs, Crowell said.

The Island now has 990,000 private-sector jobs, compared with 1.028 million in February 2007. But some sectors are rebounding, such as professional and business services, which added 3,500 jobs.

A new hire in that category is David Rogan, 41, who joined the Smithtown-based advertising firm Sanna Mattson MacLeod recently as creative director. The Smithtown resident left the firm nine years ago for a creative-director job in Manhattan. But the long commute, he said, "was starting to get a little old." He said he kept in contact with his old agency and eventually, "they presented me with the opportunity, and it was everything I was looking for."

Lori Farley-Toth, the Garden City-based director of sales for the mid-Atlantic division of Adecco, said the staffing company has seen an increased demand for temps to work as executive administrative assistants.