Jobless Rate Falls

New York’s unemployment rate dropped to 8.2% in June, the lowest in more than a year, from 8.3% the month before, according to a report released last week by the state Labor ­Department.

This is the lowest rate since April 2009, when it was 8.1%. Unemployment last month was at 798,600, its lowest level since April 2009, compared to 806,200 in May 2010.

New York City’s unemployment rate decreased to 9.5% in June from 9.6% in May, The U.S. rate during the period was also 9.5%, compared to 9.7% in May. The state’s rate excluding New York City decreased to 7.3% in June from 7.4% in May.

The state continued to shed jobs for the second consecutive month. It lost 8,500 private-sector jobs in June on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Its nonfarm job count, which tracks all jobs in the private and public sectors, decreased by 22,500 in June, largely due to a sharp drop of 10,100 in federal jobs when many temporary U.S. Census workers left the payroll.

The figure does not count the self-employed.

“While we lost a small number of private-sector jobs in June 2010, New York’s unemployment rate continued to show improvement,” said Peter A. Neenan, director of the Labor Department’s Division of Research and Statistics.

“Both the state’s unemployment rate and the number of unemployed residents reached their lowest levels since April 2009,” Neenan said.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM BOND BUYER