NY jobs growth found to outpace nation's

Refuting the notion that New York State's economy is subpar to the nation's, a research center has found job growth was stronger here in the past four years.

SUNY's Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government reported the state's private-sector employment outpaced the United States from 2007 to 2010. Such a performance was a first for New York since records began in 1939.

All of the state's 10 regions, including Long Island, also have surpassed the national trend.

"Four consecutive years of beating the nation is quite a new development," said Robert B. Ward, the study's author and deputy director of the Albany institute. "New York's economic performance has lagged the nation for decades -- for so long, in fact, that we've come to think this is somehow our natural condition."

However, he added New York appears to have fallen "marginally behind" the United States this year. Private-sector employment in the April-June period rose 1.56 percent in the state compared with the same time a year earlier, while it rose 1.69 percent nationally.

The four years examined in the report coincided with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. In three of the four years, private-sector jobs shrank in the country and only once in the state.

Because more jobs were added in some years and fewer lost in others compared with the United States, New York had 343,000 additional jobs as a result of its stronger performance.

On Long Island, the private-sector workforce contracted 3.1 percent between 2006 and 2010, compared with the national contraction of 5.9 percent. However, the statewide contraction was 1.3 percent -- far better than the Island.

New York State has outperformed the United States before, including three years in a row during the early 1980s, but never for four consecutive years.

The reasons behind New York's "surprising" performance are elusive, Ward said. One factor is the state didn't suffer the housing implosion seen in California, Arizona and Florida. So construction jobs didn't crater here.

However, the federal bailout of banks and other financial service firms that are vital to the state's economy did not boost employment. The number of securities industry jobs fell faster here than across the country.

New York also outpaced the nation in terms of employment in retail trade, professional and business services, and tourism, the latter due to Broadway and other Manhattan attractions.

Still, the state continued to lose factory jobs and lagged in health care and social services. Public schools exceeded the national hiring average.

"What this study shows is that New York State has diversified its economy after losing many routine manufacturing jobs," said Pearl Kamer, chief economist at the Long Island Association business group. "We now specialize in industries that are likely to grow in the new economy."