Westchester County Business Journal Unemployment up in Valley
Unemployment up in Valley
Putnam has lowest jobless rate in region
Despite steady demand for temporary summer help reported by staffing agencies here, Westchester County’s July unemployment rate rose 1 percent from a year ago, according to the New York State Department of Labor.
The county’s jobless rate last month was 4.9 percent, up from 3.9 percent in July 2007 and 4.7 percent in June. Other counties in the lower Hudson Valley region saw a similar year-to-year jobless rate increase of about 1 percent in July. Unemployment in Orange County and the Kingston area last month exceeded the state rate of 5.4 percent.
Putnam County had the lowest unemployment rate in the region last month, at 4.6 percent, though the county’s rate rose 1.1 percent from the previous July. In Rockland County, unemployment rose to 5.1 percent in July, up from 4.2 percent in July 2007 and 4.9 percent in June.
Unemployment rates in other lower Hudson Valley job markets were: Dutchess County, 5.3 percent, up from 4.1 percent in July 2007 and 5.2 percent in June; Orange County, 5.6 percent, up from 4.5 percent in July 2007 and 5.4 percent in June, and Kingston, 5.5 percent, up from 4.6 percent in July 2007 and 5.3 percent in June.
Both the region and state fared better in employment last month than the nation as a whole, which had a 6 percent July jobless rate, up from 4.9 percent in July 2007 and 5.7 percent in June. Unlike most of the state, New York City’s July unemployment was down year-to-year, from 5.8 percent in July 2007 to 5.4 percent last month.
While monthly unemployment claims continued to rise across the state, there were 22,400 more nonfarm jobs in New York in July compared to the previous year, a 0.3 percent increase. Of those, private-sector jobs increased by 13,900 or 0.2 percent. The statewide employment market however, lost 86,600 jobs from June to July, of which 39,300 were in the private sector, state labor officials reported.
Industries reporting the largest job gains in July were education and health services, with 32,200 added jobs from a year earlier, followed by leisure and hospitality, with 8,800 added jobs year-to-year, and government, with 8,500 more jobs. Manufacturing reported the heaviest losses, with 18,300 jobs lost since July 2007, followed by the financial activities industry, with 10,600 jobs lost.
At Hire Choice Staffing Services, a temporary staffing and direct-hire placement agency in White Plains, “Our business in the temporary division has been very healthy,” said Valerie A. Swatz, the company’s sales and marketing director. “We’re up from last year.” Pharmaceutical and health care companies, including hospitals, have been most active in summer hiring, she said.
“It seems right now that the temporary market is a little bit stronger” than the permanent-employment market. As human resource officers return from summer vacations, “We’re starting to see a boost in the permanent positions,” she said. “We’re starting to see kind of a gear-up.”
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