LI's unemployment ticks up slightly

Long Island's unemployment rate inched up in May to 6.7 percent, essentially unchanged from April's 6.6 percent, the New York State Labor Department reported Tuesday.

But the rate is significantly lower than the 7.1 percent a year ago. And the number of unemployed workers dropped to 98,100 in May from 104,600 a year ago.

Just how much real improvement the economy has made in the past year, however, is difficult to gauge, local economists maintain.

That's because in May Long Island also had its first net job loss in a year, the department reported last week. The Island had 4,800 fewer jobs in May than it did the year before. So how does a decline in the number of unemployed workers in the past year square with no job growth?

Local economists suspect that a key factor in the discrepancy is discouraged workers, or those workers who have given up looking for a job and thus aren't included in unemployment data. Though those data aren't broken out on the local level, economists suspect they are a factor here as they are nationwide.

"After months and months of a bad economy, I think it's typical to expect the number of discouraged workers to increase," said Michael Crowell, senior economist in the Labor Department's Hicksville office.

Given the net loss of jobs in May, "you would presume that more of them dropped out than got jobs," said Pearl Kamer, chief economist for the Long Island Association.

To be sure, the economy has made significant strides since the unemployment rate reached a recession high of 8.3 percent in February 2010. And the Island has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state. The lowest is Ithaca, with a 5.4 percent rate. Upstate Oswego has the highest -- 9.4 percent. New York State has a 7.8 percent rate.

One of the reasons the Island's economy is relatively stronger is the predominance of small businesses, Kamer said.

"A small-business economy can adapt fairly quickly in unpredictable economic circumstances," she said. "That is what we are encountering today."

But the economy remains challenging, something that laid-off worker Leslie Raynor of Glen Head knows well. After 20 years with British Airways, she lost her marketing job last month.

As for finding another job after working for a large corporation, Raynor, 59, said, "I think it's going to be a little bit tough, both because I'm not 25 and because of the small-business nature of Long Island."

But she said, "I think I have the right experience, and I'm am optimistic person."