NEW YORK SEES RISE IN LAYOFFS
Applications for unemployment benefits in New York ticked up in the week ending June 29 after falling in recent weeks, data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed.
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Advance state claims for the week totaled 16,066, the data showed, increasing by 4,509 claims from the week before. Other states that saw an increase included New Jersey, which registered a 2,235 jump in claims; California, which saw an increase of 2,145 claims; and Georgia, which recorded an increase of 1,640 claims.
While the latest unemployment data shows an increase in people losing their jobs, the figures are lower from their peak in January, when the jobless claims soared to almost 38,000. In May, the unemployment rate in New York ticked up to 4.2 percent, while the national jobless rate was at 4 percent.
The data also shows that residents in the Empire State are not struggling to find jobs. Continued claims, which tracks the number of people filing for unemployment benefits beyond their initial claim, have been trending downward over the past few weeks, suggesting that when New Yorkers lose their jobs, it does not take long for them to secure other employment.
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New York was one of the states hardest hit by COVID-19, and the economic crisis that resulted from the pandemic led to significant job losses. The unemployment rate in May 2020 jumped to a staggering 17 percent, data from the Federal Reserve showed, as the state's economy locked down to slow the spread of the virus.
The state has since recovered some of the jobs lost during the pandemic. Since 2023, the unemployment rate has hovered around 4 percent, down from the double-digit highs of the pandemic years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
In May, the state generated almost 22,000 nonfarm jobs, while the private sector saw close to 16,000 new private sector workers. For the month, the total labor force in the state ticked down slightly to 9.7 million, while the number of unemployed residents also decreased to about 410,000, the state's Department of Labor said.
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The sectors that saw gains in May—the most recent month with available state data—were led by private education and health services, which added more than 114,000, an increase of 5.1 percent compared to the same time a year ago. Government jobs went up by almost 42,000, and leisure and hospitality added 39,000 jobs.
Industries that saw declines in May were trade, transportation and utilities, which lost almost 15,000 jobs. The information sector lost about the same number of jobs, while construction recorded a decline of almost 4,000 workers.
2024-07-03T15:50:50Z dg43tfdfdgfd
