New York State released the latest employment numbers last week, and the numbers are, well, decent.
The good news: Westchester saw a net increase of 3,200 “total nonfarm” (private sector + government) jobs from January 2013 to January 2014, a 0.6 percent gain. The net increase in private sector jobs (excluding government) was 4,700, a one- percent increase. New York State, meanwhile, saw a net increase of 114,000 jobs total and 119,600 in the private sector, a 1.3- and 1.7-percent increase, respectively.
The not so good news: New York State’s “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate in January, 6.8 percent, was slightly behind the national average of 6.6 percent, and New York City was even worse off at 7.8 percent. Other so-so news: From December to January, New York State saw a 1,400-job decline in “total nonfarm” payrolls but a private sector increase of 5,400, indicating a loss in public sector jobs.
Below is the change in payrolls, both nonfarm and private sector-only, from January 2013 to January 2014, broken out by region.
The Westchester/Rockland/Putnam region lags our Downstate counterparts significantly: The region trailed New York City’s year-over-year growth by nearly two percentage points and Long Island’s by 0.8. We are, however, in better shape than a number of upstate areas like Binghamton, Albany, and Elmira (not shown).
