Community Corner

County's Unemployment Rate Drops Slightly

Town of Hempstead jobless rate was 7.1 percent in August.

Nassau County's unemployment rate sat at 6.8 percent in August, according to statistics released Thursday by the New York State Department of Labor.

The county unemployment rate was 7 percent a year ago.

The Town of Hempstead unemployment rate for August was 7.1 percent, a drop from 7.4 percent the year prior. The unemployment rate had been as low as 6.7 percent in April.

"The recovery in New York State's labor market slowed somewhat in August as we only added 2,500 private sector jobs over the month," says Norman A. Steele, deputy director of the Division of Research and Statistics. "In addition, our statewide unemployment rate increased from 8.2 to 8.3 percent, but remained well below the nation's rate of 9.6 percent in August."

Long Island had 11,300 more private-sector jobs in August than it did in the same month a year ago, a 1.1 percent increase according to the labor department release.

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"It seems low, but that's the trend we've had from year to year. After a deep hole, we need to be stronger to get out of that hole," says Gary Huth, regional analyst for the New York State Department of Labor, adding, "It's not where we want to be or need to be. And we've had some volatility in the numbers..."

A year ago August, the county's unemployment rate was 7.0 percent, compared to this August's 6.8 percent.

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In all of 2008, the unemployment rate was lowest in April (3.7 percent) but peaked in December at 5.5 percent.

Huth says the numbers are a reflection of stability in the overall labor market. 

"Sure, there are some problems. But the economy is more stable. The population is better educated and somewhat older [than elsewhere in the state]," he said. "This particular downturn has had more of an impact on white-collar workers and older workers, but they still tend to do better."

Areas affected in Nassau included financial services and professional and business services – law firms, architectural firms, advertising. While Huth doesn't have defined data at this level, he said "it appears that these groups are seeing significant improvement." Nassau is a service economy and tends to have lower unemployment rates than a manufacturing economy.

Sen. Kemp Hannon R-Garden City, recently hosted a job fair that included more than 70 employers looking to hire and 700 residents looking for a job.

"In these tough economic times, many Long Islanders are struggling to pay their monthly phone bill and their upcoming mortgage payment," says Hannon. "It is my hope that people walked away … with an opportunity to obtain an income and at the very least, real networking connections to land a job."

On Friday, Oct. 8, Sen. Craig Johnson, D-Port Washington, will host a job fair at Nassau Community College where more than 40 companies will be in attendance, including Jet Blue, FedEx, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, North Shore LIJ, Stop 'n Shop and more.

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. 

Adina Genn contributed to this article.


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