Local jobless rate hits 3.4% in January, down from year prior 

Long Island’s jobless rate was down in January from the same month in 2022, state data released Tuesday shows.

The region’s unemployment rate was 3.4% during the first month of the year, slightly lower than the 3.5% during the same month a year before, according to new numbers published by the state Labor Department.

On a month-over-month basis, the Island’s unemployment rate ticked up 0.8 percentage points from December’s rate of 2.6%. Labor market analyst Shital Patel with the Labor Department’s Hicksville office said an increase in the rate of around 0.7 percentage points after the end of the year is the norm as businesses shed temporary jobs from the holiday shopping season.

 — Victor Ocasio