LI unemployment rate dropped to 3.5% in January as more got jobs

Long Island’s unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in January compared with a year earlier as more people found work, according to data released on Tuesday by the state Department of Labor.

The Island’s unemployment rate was 5.9% in January 2021.

Shital Patel, the department’s labor market analyst in Hicksville, said the number of local residents with jobs increased by 52,000, year over year.

"The unemployment rate went down in January compared with January 2021 because a lot more Long Islanders found jobs," she said, adding that 17,500 unemployed people who hadn't been looking for work began to do so and secured employment.

The Island’s January unemployment rate is far lower than the state’s 5.3% and the nation’s 4.4%.

Among the region’s counties, towns and villages, the highest jobless rate was 5.9% in Hempstead village and the lowest was 2.7% in Smithtown. The rate was 3.3% in Nassau County and 3.6% in Suffolk County.

Separately, the labor department issued revisions of its 2021 data showing that more people were hired than previously thought during the months when the number of coronavirus cases was low.

The 2021 data revisions led several employment indicators to bounce back to their pre-pandemic levels in January, according to Patel.

For example, the size of the labor force — the number of Long Islanders working and those actively looking for work — totaled 1.49 million people in January. The figure includes local residents who commute to jobs off the Island.

The number of employed residents also was higher than before the pandemic: 1.43 million.

Still, while the number of Long Islanders with jobs has increased, the number of jobs in Nassau and Suffolk is smaller by 48,000 compared with before the coronavirus struck.

John A. Rizzo, an economist and Stony Brook University professor, said January’s unemployment rate and the number of people participating in the labor force are both encouraging.

But he said, "The crisis in Ukraine and rising inflation rates present substantial headwinds for further economic growth and a strong labor market."

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.