Data: 48,000 jobs returned in May in anticipation of reopening

Long Island added more than 48,000 jobs in May as businesses called workers back in anticipation of reopening, state data released Thursday show.  It was the first monthly increase in employment since the coronavirus pandemic began.

But the Island's overall job count is still down more than 250,000 — 18.6% — from a year ago, the state Labor Department reported, and more  than 11,700 Long Islanders filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week. 

May's job increase was “in anticipation of Phase 1 reopening which began on May 27,” said Shital Patel, labor market analyst in the department's Hicksville office. "These data reflect a limited resumption of economic activity," she said.

The sectors seeing the biggest month-over-month job gains were construction, leisure and hospitality, and retail trade, data show.  Phase 1 regulations allowed nonessential construction to resume and expanded curbside pickup options for retailers. 

The region entered Phase 2 on June 10, which allowed outdoor dining, in-store retail, office work and other activities with restrictions.  Long Island is poised to enter Phase 3 next week, which will allow indoor dining and expand the list of salon and personal service businesses that may open. 

But some businesses continue to shed jobs. Last week's 11,700 new unemployment claims, which are a proxy for layoffs,   were up slightly from the week before, Labor Department statistics showed.

In total, more than 373,000  Long Islanders have filed for jobless aid in the 13 weeks of the coronavirus economic shutdown. More than 2.7 million New Yorkers have filed for unemployment aid throughout the crisis.

While last week’s figures are still historically high, the numbers are “headed in the right direction,” said Gregory DeFreitas, senior labor economics professor at Hofstra University.

“We have less than half the weekly initial claim numbers than we had back near the end of May,” DeFreitas said. Still, he said, the numbers are “staggering” and are indicative of the unprecedented economic disruption.

“We’re still in a lot of trouble,” he said. “Obviously, our economy, like others, needs a lot to happen before it can really bounce back to anything close to the norm.”

John A. Rizzo, chief economist for the Long Island Association business group, said that while New York's rate of hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 have trended in the right direction, he worries about what is happening in other states.

“In the state, we’ve done a number of things the right way,” Rizzo said. Pointing to rising infection rates in states like Florida and Texas, Rizzo said he worries about what impact that might have on New York’s economic recovery, for example if it causes supply chain disruptions.

“We’ve seen what happens in other states that open too quickly,” he said. “You can’t pretend like the virus isn’t there. At the same time, we can’t go back to a complete shutdown. We have to proceed cautiously.”

During the health crisis, more than 873,000 New Yorkers have filed Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims.

PUA, which extends jobless benefits to categories of workers not normally covered by traditional unemployment, such as the self-employed and gig workers, was created under the federal CARES Act in late March.