Box score: 4.8 percent is good but we need better
Bryan Preston of Hannaford supermarkets, left, talks with job seekers on April 22, 2014, during a job fair at Columbia-Greene Community College in Hudson, N.Y. Credit: AP / Mike Groll
4.8 percent -- That was the unemployment rate on Long Island in October, a significant improvement over the 5.8 percent rate one year earlier.
The number of employed residents edged up by only 1,600, while the number of unemployed decreased by almost 16,000 people.
The big factor was a drop in the workforce of 14,200 people, some of it coming from retirements.
Lower unemployment is good, but in the long run, what's needed is more and better jobs for a growing and vibrant economy, not fewer people seeking employment.
