New York State
Department of Labor

Albany, NY (January 20, 2011) -

New York State’s economy lost 22,600 private sector jobs, or 0.3%, on a seasonally adjusted basis in December 2010, the State Labor Department reported today. The total nonfarm job count in New York decreased by 22,800, or 0.3%, in December 2010. The nonfarm job count tracks all jobs in the private and public sectors. It does not count the self-employed or workers on farms.

New York State’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.2% in December 2010, down from 8.3% in November.  The number of unemployed New York State residents dropped slightly -- from 797,600 in November to 792,800 in December 2010.

“Job growth in New York State has been inconsistent month to month during this economic recovery. The state’s economy lost 22,600 private sector jobs in December 2010. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 8.2% in December, remaining below the nation’s rate of 9.4%,” said Norman A. Steele, Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics.

Note: When comparing different months, seasonally adjusted data provide the most valid comparison; for example, November 2010 versus December 2010. Non-seasonally adjusted data are valuable in year-to-year comparisons of the same month; for example, December 2009 versus December 2010.

1) Unemployment rates (seasonally adjusted)

New York State’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased slightly to 8.2% in December 2010. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 9.4% in December. New York City’s rate dropped to 8.9 % in December 2010, while the rate outside of New York City remained at 7.7% in December 2010.

2) Regular Unemployment Insurance (UI), the four tiers of federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) and Extended Benefits (EB) data:

Some important changes recently occurred in the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) and the Extended Benefits (EB) programs. Federal legislation was signed into law, which extended the EUC08 program and 100% federal funding of the EB program through the end of 2011.

For the EUC08 program:

• For the three months ending December 2010, New York State’s average unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) was 8.2%.
• Because New York State’s average unemployment rate for the three months ending in June 2010 fell below 8.5%, EUC08 Tier 4 benefits are available only to people who exhausted Tier 3 by August 15, 2010. People who exhausted Tier 3 after that date moved directly into the EB program.
• Based on the latest amendments to federal law, to qualify for EUC08 Tier 1 people must exhaust regular UI benefits by December 25, 2011. They must claim EUC Tier 1 by January 1, 2012.
• To qualify for EUC08 Tiers 2 and 3, people must exhaust Tier 1 or Tier 2 by January 1, 2012. Beneficiaries in the EUC08 program may continue to collect UI from the tier of EUC that they are in on January 8, 2012. They can collect until those benefits run out, or until June 10, 2012, whichever comes first, but they may not move to the next tier of EUC08.

For the federally funded EB program:

• People may not claim benefits under the EB program after January 8, 2012. We cannot pay any benefits under the EB program for periods of unemployment after that date.
• If the state’s three-month average unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) falls below 8.0%, then the number of weeks of EB available drops from 20 to 13.

Use the department's online Unemployment Insurance calculator to estimate the amount of unemployment benefits due. See the calculator on the Department of Labor's web site or go here: http://www.labor.ny.gov/ui/claimantinfo/UIBenefitsCalculator.shtm

See the table below for beneficiary data for these programs. During the week that included December 5, 2010, 557,702 people (including out-of-state claimants) received regular UI, EUC08, or EB. This includes 510,337 who live in New York State. Residents who received benefits under these programs made up 64% of the total unemployed in the state in December 2010.

*Data are preliminary and subject to revision. Note: EUC08 Tier 1 began 7/13/2008; Tier 2 began 2/22/2009; Tier 3 began 11/15/2009; Tier 4 began 2/21/2010. EB began 5/24/2009.
Program and Data Item*	December 2010	November 2010	December 2009
Regular UI, reference week beneficiaries	239,926	217,470	269,444
Regular UI, year-to-date beneficiaries	922,241	884,894	1,050,923
EUC08, reference week beneficiaries	214,423	216,332	307,362
EUC08, year-to-date beneficiaries	726,740	704,731	544,795
EB, reference week beneficiaries	103,457	100,217	38,219
EB, year-to-date beneficiaries	211,220	195,373	120,919

3) Jobs data (seasonally adjusted):

New York State and the nation, November 2010 - December 2010

Note: All data reported in this section are seasonally adjusted. These data are most useful when comparing different months; for example, November 2010 versus December 2010.

The number of private sector jobs in New York State dropped by 22,600, or 0.3%, to 7,031,200 in December 2010, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Nationally, the number of private sector jobs rose 0.1% over the same period.

Between November and December 2010, the total nonfarm job count (private and public sectors) in the state decreased by 22,800, or 0.3%, to 8,497,900, after seasonal adjustment. Nationally, the total number of seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs increased by 0.1% in December.

4) Jobs data (not seasonally adjusted):

New York State and the nation, December 2009 - December 2010

Note: All data reported in this section are not seasonally adjusted. The most valid comparisons with this type of data are year-to-year comparisons of the same month; for example, December 2009 versus December 2010.

New York State: Total nonfarm jobs                      +36,100
New York State: Private sector jobs                      +70,800

Since December 2009, the number of nonfarm jobs (private and public sectors) in New York State increased by 36,100, or 0.4%. The number of private sector jobs in the state increased by 70,800, or 1.0%, over the last year. Additional industry detail for New York State is shown in the table on the next page.

Nationally, the number of nonfarm jobs increased by 0.8% since December 2009. The number of private sector jobs in the U.S. increased by 1.2% over the same period.

Highlights among NYS sectors with job gains since December 2009:

• Educational and health services added the most private sector jobs (+30,800) of any sector over the past year. Within that sector, job gains were greatest in health care and social assistance (+21,900), particularly ambulatory health care services (+11,100).
• Professional and business services (+23,100) had the second largest increase in jobs since December 2009. Sector job gains were greatest in administrative and support services (+10,000).
• The third largest increase in jobs occurred in other services (+14,800), where gains were concentrated in religious, grantmaking, civic, and professional organizations (+12,100).
• The job count also increased over the year in leisure and hospitality (+9,700). Gains in accommodation and food services (+14,800) outweighed losses in arts, entertainment, and recreation ( 5,100).
• Financial activities (+1,800) and natural resources and mining (+300) also increased over the year.

Highlights among NYS sectors with job losses since December 2009:

• Over the past year, government lost the most jobs (-34,700) of any sector. Losses were greatest at the local level (-24,800). Losses also occurred at the state (-6,600) and federal (-3,300) levels.
• Construction had the second largest jobs decline (-4,000) with large losses in specialty trade contractors (-10,000), offset somewhat by gains in building construction (+4,200).
• Information had the third largest jobs decline (-3,800). Sector job losses were centered in publishing (-2,700) and telecommunications (-2,200).
• The job count also fell over the year in trade, transportation and utilities (-1,100) and manufacturing (-800).

5) Major Regions and Metropolitan Areas:

Job Growth and Unemployment Rates (not seasonally adjusted)

Note: All data reported in this section are not seasonally adjusted. The most valid comparisons with this type of data are year-to-year comparisons of the same month; for example, December 2009 versus December 2010.

Note: 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. We survey 18,000 business establishments to get jobs data for New York State by industry. The jobs data do not include agricultural workers, the self-employed, unpaid family workers and domestic workers in private households.

See State and Area Job Data (opens in new window)
See State and Area Unemployment Rates (opens in new window)
See Jobs and Unemployment Fact Sheet (opens in new window)
See Labor Market Overview (opens in new window)