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TDC IDEA - An Affiliate of the State Data CenterThe official website of The Development Corp.'s
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Turning the corner toward a slow jobs rebound?
by Paul Grasso, May 24, 2010
There is good news for the state economy, finally. For the fourth consecutive month, New York State's economy has added jobs. The New York State Department of Labor reported that 31,500 private sector jobs (seasonally adjusted) were added in April.
As you might expect, given the increase in the number of private sector jobs, New York State's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased from 8.6% in March to 8.4% in April. This is the state's lowest unemployment rate since May 2009. The number of unemployed New Yorkers decreased by almost 14,000 over the last month, falling from 831,500 in March to 817,600 in April. "The economic recovery is gaining momentum in New York State. Over the past four months, we have added more than 78,000 private sector jobs, while the state's unemployment rate is now at its lowest level since May 2009," said Peter A. Neenan, Ph.D., Director of the Division of Research and Statistics.
The following New York State Department of Labor chart shows industry job gains and losses over the period April 2009 and April 2010.
Change in Jobs by Sector, April 2009 - April 2010
| Sectors With Job Gains: | |
| Educational & Health Services | +37,100 |
| Leisure & Hospitality | +14,600 |
| Other Services | +2,500 |
| Natural Resources and Mining | +200 |
| Sectors With Job Losses: | |
| Government | -29,000 |
| Manufacturing | -24,700 |
| Construction | -16,800 |
| Financial Activities | -16,400 |
| Trade, Transportation & Utilities | -10,000 |
| Professional & Business Services | -4,900 |
| Information | -4,600 |
Locally, the news is also good in Clinton County. Unemployment dropped by 0.3% in April. Essex, Franklin, and Hamilton counties also share this downward trend in unemployment. The North Country region appears to be heading toward recovery with job losses ending across a wide array of industries.
Even though losses in the overall number of jobs available seems to have ended, it is important for those still unemployed to accept most economists predictions that many of the jobs lost during the recession will not return. During this recession, jobs have been lost for a myriad of reasons beyond the weak economy, including as a result of technological advances. These jobs might have been lost even if there had not been a recession.
Skill upgrading and life-long learning will be to the watchwords of the future. Workers who embrace such a philosophy will stand a much better chance of weathering future economic storms and job loss.
The unemployment figures for the region:
| April 2010 | March 2010 | April 2009 | |
| North Country | 9.7% | 10.5% | 9.4% |
| New York State | 8.4% | 8.6% | 8.1% |
| United States | 9.9% | 9.7% | 8.9% |
| Clinton | 10.1% | 10.4% | 9.2% |
| Essex | 9.9% | 10.5% | 10.1% |
| Franklin | 8.9% | 9.9% | 8.6% |
| Hamilton | 9.7% | 11.5% | 9.7% |
| U-6 | 17.1% | 16.9% | 15.4% |
The news is not as good at the national level. The U.S. unemployment rate rose from 9.7% in March to 9.9% in April 2010. This setback helped fuel the pessimism that seems to have affected the markets.
Many economists predicted that the unemployment number would continue to be stabilized in April (the unemployment rate was 9.7% in January, February, and March), while some predicted that it would drop. Nationally, it was not to be. Since the start of the recession, the unemployment rate has exceeded 9.7% on four occasions, October 2009, November 2009, and December 2009 when the unemployment rate was 10.2%, 10.2%, and 10.0%, respectively.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), nationally there were 15.3 million unemployed persons in April. Of those, 6.7 million, or 43.7%, have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. As discussed in previous articles, the BLS releases six different unemployment numbers every month and reported as U-1, U-2, U-3, U-4, U-5, and U-6. U-3 is the "official unemployment rate" according to the BLS website. Because it is the "official unemployment rate’Δω, it is the measure of unemployment that the media and, therefore, the public focuses the most.
U-6 is a broader measure of unemployment and includes those people counted by U-3 but also includes "discouraged workers", "marginally attached workers", and "persons employed part time for economic reasons". Discouraged workers are people who have stopped looking for work. They have sought employment during the past year but have been unsuccessful. Marginally attached workers are people who are not currently looking for work. They have "recently" looked for a job and would take one if offered. Marginally attached workers have not looked for work in the past 4 weeks. Marginally attached workers also include discouraged workers. A person not looking for work is not considered unemployed.
Persons employed part time for economic reasons are people who want to work, are available for work, but have had to take a part-time job because no suitable full-time employment was available. For example, a woman with an MBA who has to take a part-time job delivering newspapers is not considered unemployed.
In other words, the U-6 unemployment rate measures labor underutilization.
The U-6 also increased in April. It rose to 17.1% up from 16.9% in March, and remains near its historical peak. A year ago, the U-6 rate was 15.4%.
Locally and nationally, the challenge is to determine the policies that can help workers from falling further behind in this very gradual economic recovery. Fortunately, The Development Corporation, the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce, Clinton and North Country Community Colleges, and the North Country Regional Workforce Investment Board are collaborating effectively to help resolve that question.