Long Island job market -- more working, fewer jobs
“Nobody’s calling,” Elmont resident Lucy Moskowitz says of her nearly two-year job hunt after being laid off from a mailing company. Her benefits run out soon. She’s even looking to housekeep or baby-sit. (Nov. 21, 2011) Credit: Steven Sunshine
Long Island's unemployment rate fell to 6.6 percent in October, compared with 7 percent a year ago, according to state labor department data released Tuesday.
That rate declined even as other statistics point to a worsening job market, not an improving one. While the number of unemployed workers shrank to 94,900 in October from 102,600 the year before, reflecting the rate decline, the number of people with jobs also shrank -- to 1.352 million, from 1.363 million the year before.
Last week the department reported that the Island had 11,300 fewer jobs in October than it did the year before, the sixth straight month of year-over-year declines. Just one category gained jobs, revealing the broadest display of losses since 2009. The state Department of Labor compares local data on a year-over-year basis because the figures aren't adjusted to account for unusual seasonal swings.
The latest contradictory numbers suggest, in part, an increase in the ranks of discouraged workers, or those workers who have given up looking for jobs and thus aren't included in unemployment data, said Michael Crowell, senior economist in the labor department's Hicksville office. Those numbers aren't tracked locally, though.
The declining jobless rate also suggests more Islanders are finding work elsewhere or moving away, Crowell said.
"It could be that some people have decided to try their luck somewhere else," he said.
Elmont resident Lucy Moskowitz, 55, is still hoping to find work on Long Island, almost two years after she was laid off from a local mailing company where she worked for 21 years.
She wants to find another mailing job but has also broadened her search to retail stores and housekeeping and baby-sitting jobs.
"Nobody's calling," said Moskowitz, who estimates her unemployment benefits will run out in two weeks. "I never thought it would take this long."
Hempstead Village had the highest jobless rate in October: 8.7 percent. North Hempstead Town and Rockville Centre had the lowest, at 5.7 percent each. New York State's unemployment rate was 7.7 percent last month, down from 8 percent a year ago.
