Over 10,000 Positions Created Last Month
New York State’s unemployment rate decreased from 7.4 percent to 7.1 percent in December 2013, its lowest level since January 2009, according to preliminary figures released last Thursday, Jan. 23, by the state Department of Labor.
Since last October, the state’s jobless rate has dropped by 0.6 percentage points. New York State, which makes up about 6.5 percent of the nation’s jobs, accounted for 12 percent of private sector job growth nationally.
During December, the state’s economy added 10,400 private sector jobs. This raised New York State’s private sector job count to 7,503,700, an all-time high. Since January 2011, the New York State economy has added 390,600 private sector jobs and experienced employment growth in 31 of the past 36 months.
The state’s private sector job count is based on a payroll survey of 18,000 New York employers conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monthly payroll employment estimates are preliminary and subject to revision as more information becomes available the following month.
The federal government calculates New York’s unemployment rate partly based upon the results of a monthly telephone survey of 3,100 households in the state.
“The Empire State’s economy continued to provide us with good news in December 2013,” said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, deputy director of the Division of Research and Statistics. “First, the state’s unemployment rate improved in December, falling to 7.1 percent, its lowest level since January 2009. In addition, our state’s private sector job count climbed by 10,400 to 7,503,700, reaching another all-time high.”
Seasonally adjusted data are used to provide the most valid month-tomonth comparison. Non-seasonally adjusted data are valuable in year-toyear comparisons of the same month; for example, December 2012 versus December 2013.
Since December 2012, the number of private sector jobs in New York State increased by 109,900, or 1.5 percent. In the 10-county Downstate region, private sector jobs grew by 2.6 percent over the past year. Downstate’s private sector job growth was most rapid in New York City (up 2.8 percent) and Nassau- Suffolk (up 2.5 percent).
Over the past year, private sector jobs grew most rapidly in New York City (up 2.8 percent). Upstate Middletown (down 2 percent) and Ithaca (down 0.5 percent) were the only metro areas in the state to lose private sector jobs between December 2012 and December 2013.
Private educational and health services added the most jobs (up 52,300) of any major industry sector over the past year. Sector employment gains were centered in health care and social assistance (up 36,000), especially ambulatory health care services (up 24,000).
Trade, transportation and utilities had the second largest increase in jobs (up 35,900) between December 2012 and December 2013. Over the past year, sector job gains were mostly in retail trade (up 25,000).
The third largest employment increase over the past year was registered in leisure and hospitality (up 14,200), with sector gains focused in accommodation and food services (up 20,400).
Over the past year, government lost more jobs (down 13,200) than any other sector in the state. Government employment losses between December 2012 and December 2013 were largest at the local level (down 8,800), especially local elementary and secondary schools (down 7,100).
Between December 2012 and December 2013, manufacturing sector job losses (down 8,700) were greatest in durable goods (down 5,500), especially in computer and electronic products (down 2,100).
Unemployment insurance
For New York State, during the week that included Dec. 5, 2013, there were 298,241 people (including 273,226 who live in the state) who received benefits under either regular unemployment insurance or federal emergency unemployment compensation. New York State residents who received unemployment insurance benefits made up 40 percent of the total unemployed in the state in December 2013.
Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) is a 100 percent federally funded program that provides benefits to individuals who have exhausted regular state benefits. The EUC program was created on June 30, 2008, and has been modified several times.
The EUC program expired on Dec. 29, 2013. To date, Congress has not passed any further extensions to reauthorize the EUC program.
Currently, beneficiaries only receive up to 26 weeks of benefits under the regular Unemployment Insurance program. Nationally, there were approximately 1.3 million people impacted by the expiration of this program. In New York State, the expiration of this program impacted 102,700 state residents.
The state Labor Department encourages those out of work to use the department’s online unemployment insurance calculator to estimate how many weeks of benefits they may receive. See the calculator online at www.labor.ny. gov/ui/claimantinfo/uibenefitscalcula tor.shtm.
