Unemployment Jumped Across The Empire State In November

New York State's private sector job count decreased over the month by 23,500, or 0.3 percent, to 7,219,700 in November, the state Labor Department reported last Friday, Dec. 18. It was the largest over-the-month employment drop since October 2001.

The state's unemployment rate, after seasonal adjustment, increased from 5.7 percent in October to 6.1 percent in November, its highest level since April 2004. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in New York City increased from 5.7 percent in October to 6.3 percent in November.

Overall, the unemployment rate for the balance of the state outside of New York City increased over the month, from 5.7 percent in October to 5.9 percent in November.

Since November 2007, the number of jobs in the five boroughs of New York City has decreased by 17,900, or 0.5 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has decreased by 17,100, or 0.5 percent. The area's unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in November 2008, compared with 5.7 in October and 5.0 in November 2007.

"Most labor market indicators suggest conditions in New York State's economy continued to deteriorate in November," said Peter A. Neenan, Ph.D., director of the Division of Research and Statistics. "The state's private sector job count suffered its largest monthly drop since October 2001, the statewide unemployment rate registered its highest level since April 2004, and initial claims for unemployment insurance continued to rise markedly."

When comparing different months, the Labor Department noted, seasonally adjusted data provided the most valid comparison, for example, October 2008 versus November 2008. Non-seasonally adjusted data are valuable in yearto year comparisons of the same month, for example, November 2007 versus November 2008.

Unemployment rates

The state's unemployment rate, after seasonal adjustment, increased from 5.7 percent in October 2008 to 6.1 percent in November 2008. In November 2007, the state's rate was 4.6 percent. The U.S. rate increased from 6.5 percent in October 2008 to 6.7 percent in November 2008.

In November 2007, the nation's rate was 4.7 percent. The rate for New York City was 6.3 percent in November 2008, up from 5.7 percent in October 2008. In November 2007, the city's rate was 5.1 percent. The rate for the balance of the state outside of New York City was 5.9 percent in November 2008, up from 5.7 percent in October 2008. In November 2007, the balance of state's rate was 4.2 percent.

Under the Regular Unemployment Insurance (Regular UI) program, individuals who are involuntarily unemployed through no fault of their own may be eligible for up to 26 weeks of benefits as long as they remain ready, willing and able to work, and are actively seeking employment.

Through the temporary federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) program, enacted on June 30 as part of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, claimants who have exhausted their 26 weeks of regular benefits may receive up to 13 weeks of additional benefits.

Federal legislation was signed into law on Nov. 21 providing for an additional seven weeks of EUC08 benefits, increasing the maximum duration to 20 weeks under this program.

In all approximately 114,714 Regular UI claims were made in New York State in November, up from 108,132 reported in October and 93,860 accounted in November 2007. Year-to-date, more than one million claims have been made.

Through the EUC08 program, approximately 23,901 benefits claims were made in the state last moth, down from 26,916 registered in October. To date, more than 215,000 such claims have been made, up from over 191,000 made in October.

Job data

The number of private sector jobs in New York State decreased by 23,500, or 0.3 percent, to 7,219,700 in November on a seasonally adjusted basis. Nationally, the number of private sector jobs also decreased by 0.5 percent over the same period. After seasonal adjustment, the number of nonfarm jobs in the state decreased over the month by 23,300, or 0.3 percent, to 8,736,900 in November 2008. Nationally, the number of seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs also decreased by 0.4 percent.

Since November 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs (private plus public sectors) in New York State decreased by 32,700, or 0.4 percent, and the number of private sector jobs decreased by 41,800, or 0.6 percent. Nationally, the number of nonfarm jobs decreased by 1.5 percent and the number of private sector jobs decreased by 2.0 percent between November 2007 and November 2008.

Educational and health services added the largest number of private sector jobs (up 22,200) over the November 2007-November 2008 period, with the increase focused in health care and social assistance (up 20,300). The job count also increased over the year in: government, other services, information and natural resources and mining.

Looking over the year, manufacturing (down 17,700) registered the largest drop among declining industries. Manufacturing job losses were centered in non-durable goods (down 10,200) with the largest nondurable declines in apparel manufacturing (down 3,100) and chemical manufacturing (down 2,400).

Trade, transportation, and utilities (down 16,800) had the second largest employment drop among declining industries, with the largest sector losses in retail trade (down 13,900). The third largest sector employment drop was in financial activities (down 15,900), with sector losses centered in securities, commodity contracts, and other financial investments (down 13,100).

In November 2008, New York State had 8,841,300 total nonfarm jobs, including 7,302,600 private sector jobs. From October 2008 to November 2008, the number of nonfarm jobs increased by 12,000, while the number of private sector jobs was unchanged. On average, in the previous 10 years, the number of nonfarm jobs in New York increased by 44,600 from October to November, and the number of private sector jobs increased by 31,100.

Without seasonal adjustments, the job count increased over the month in trade, transportation and utilities (up 18,500), government (up 12,000), educational and health services (up 7,400), information (up 2,400), and other services (up 900). The job count decreased over the month in leisure and hospitality (down 14,800), construction (down 7,100), professional and business services (down 3,400), financial activities (down 2,500), manufacturing (down 1,100), and natural resources and mining (down 300)

It was noted that labor force statistics, including the unemployment rate, for New York and every other state are based on statistical regression models specified by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Jobs data for New York are obtained from a survey of 18,000 business establishments. Jobs data exclude agricultural workers, the self-employed, unpaid family workers and domestic workers in private households.