LI job growth state's 2nd highest
Job seekers fill out applications at the Coach table while attending the job fair held at the Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station. (Oct. 9, 2013) Credit: Steve Pfost
Long Island’s private sector looked pretty strong in October. The sector posted the second-strongest job growth in the state last month, outpaced only by New York City, Labor Department data released Thursday show. And October marked the 41st-consecutive month of year-over-year employment gains in the sector.
The Island’s 2.4 percent job growth last month, nearly matched the City’s 2.5 percent increase. By contrast, the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown metro area had the worst showing, a 1.4 percent decline.
But everything is relative. Despite strong job growth, Long Island still struggles with a stubbornly high unemployment rate. Though the rate has dropped significantly this year, it was 6.2 percent in August, the latest monthly data available. That compared with 3.9 percent in August 2007, four months before the last recession began. Economists consider rates under 4 percent full employment.
On Tuesday, the unemployment rates for September and October are scheduled to come out. The data were delayed because of the government shutdown. They will show much farther the Island has to go in its march back toward full employment.
Click here to see how Long Island’s October employment growth compared with the rest of the state
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