New York State
Department of Labor

Albany, NY (January 17, 2013) -

In December 2012, New York State's economy added 34,300 private sector jobs, the State Department of Labor reported today. This addition brings the state's overall year-to-date private sector job gain to 123,200. Additionally, this job growth resulted in New York reaching an all-time high private sector job count of 7,353,000.

Between November and December 2012, New York State's unemployment rate fell from 8.3% to 8.2%. The rate in New York City remained unchanged at 8.8% in December, while the rate in the balance of state region (New York State outside of New York City) dropped over the month from 7.9% to 7.8%.

"The New York State economy closed out the year with 34,300 private sector jobs added in December and 123,200 added to the state's economy in 2012. In addition, the state's unemployment rate continued its downward trend in December," said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics.

Note: The data above are seasonally adjusted. Seasonally adjusted data provide the most valid month-to-month comparison. Non-seasonally adjusted data are valuable in year-to-year comparisons of the same month; for example, December 2011 versus December 2012.

1) Jobs data (seasonally adjusted):

U.S. and New York State, November 2012 - December 2012

The table below compares the over-the-month change in total nonfarm and private sector jobs in the United States and New York State between November 2012 and December 2012.

 

2) Unemployment rates (seasonally adjusted):

The state's unemployment rate, as determined by the BLS, is calculated in part based on the results of a telephone survey of 3,100 people. The rate decreased from 8.3% in November 2012 to 8.2% in December 2012. In addition, the number of unemployed New Yorkers decreased over the month -- from 793,600 in November 2012 to 786,800 in December 2012.

 

3) Jobs data (not seasonally adjusted):

U.S., New York State, Major Regions, and Metro Areas: December 2011 - December 2012

The table below compares the over-the-year change in total nonfarm and private sector jobs in the United States, New York State, the Upstate and Downstate regions, and metro areas in the state between December 2011 and December 2012.

 

Job highlights since December 2011:

• Since December 2011, the number of private sector jobs in the state increased by 119,800, or 1.6%. Over the same time frame, the nation's private sector job count increased by 1.7%.
• In the 10-county Downstate region, private sector jobs grew by 1.9% over the past year. Within the Downstate region, jobs grew by 2.4% in New York City and by 0.9% in the suburban counties.
• In the 52-county Upstate region, the private sector job count grew by 0.2% over the past year, with job growth occurring in both the region's metro areas (+0.2%) and in counties outside of metro areas (+0.7%).
• Over the past year, private sector jobs grew most rapidly in these metro areas in the state:
  • Glens Falls (+3.6%)
  • Ithaca (+3.5%)
  • New York City (+2.4%)
• The metro areas in the state that lost private sector jobs between December 2011 and December 2012 include:
  • Elmira (-2.8%)
  • Buffalo-Niagara Falls (-0.5%)
  • Rochester (-0.5%)
  • Kingston (-0.4%)
  • Binghamton (-0.2%)

4) Jobs data (not seasonally adjusted):

Change in jobs by major industry sector, December 2011 - December 2012

The table below compares the over-the-year change in jobs by major industry sector in New York State between December 2011 and December 2012.

 

Highlights among NYS sectors with job gains since December 2011:

• Professional and business services added the most jobs (+47,900) of any sector between December 2011 and December 2012. Sector job gains over this period were focused in administrative and support services (+24,600), and professional, scientific and technical services (+20,300).
• Private educational and health services (+33,800) had the second largest increase in jobs over the past year. Sector employment gains occurred in both educational services (+19,400), and health care and social assistance (+14,400).

Highlights among NYS sectors with job losses since December 2011:

• Over the past year, construction lost more jobs (-6,900) than any other industry sector in the state. Construction sector job losses were concentrated in heavy and civil engineering construction (-3,700) and specialty trade contractors (-3,100).
• Employment losses in the manufacturing sector (-5,800) were greatest in non-durable goods (-4,100), especially chemical manufacturing (-2,900).

 

5) Regular Unemployment Insurance (UI), Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) and Extended Benefits (EB) programs:

For New York, during the week that included December 5, 2012, there were 413,721 people (including 381,194 who live in the state) who received benefits under:

• Regular Unemployment Insurance (UI),
• Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC), or
• Federal Extended Benefits (EB) programs.

New York State residents who received Unemployment Insurance benefits made up 48% of the total unemployed in the state in December 2012.

On December 9, 2012, the Extended Benefits (EB) program ended in New York State. EB provided up to 20 weeks of benefits to claimants who exhausted their Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) benefits. Prior to December 9, 2012, unemployed claimants who exhausted EUC would move into the EB program. Claimants who exhausted EUC on December 9, 2012 or later, and could not establish a new claim for regular UI, exhausted all entitlement to UI benefits.

The EUC program was extended by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which was signed into law on January 2, 2013. Since the recession, the EUC program has provided as many as 47 weeks of benefits in four different Tiers. Currently, only the first three Tiers are available in NYS, with a maximum of 37 weeks.

See the table below for the maximum number of weeks available under federal regulations.

 

We encourage people to use the Department's online Unemployment Insurance calculator to estimate how many weeks of benefits they may receive. See the calculator on the State Department of Labor's website or go here: http://www.labor.ny.gov/ui/claimantinfo/UIBenefitsCalculator.shtm

 

Note: The responsibility for the production of monthly estimates of state and metro area nonfarm employment by industry moved from the Division of Research and Statistics to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), starting with the March 2011 estimates. More detailed information on the change is available on the BLS web site.

Many economic data series have a seasonal pattern, which means they tend to occur at the same time each year (e.g., retail jobs usually increase in December). Seasonal adjustment is the process of removing seasonal effects from a data series. This is done to simplify the data so that they may be more easily interpreted and help to reveal true underlying trends. Seasonal adjustment permits comparisons of data from one month to data from any other month.

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. Department of Labor. They 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)
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See Jobs and Unemployment Fact Sheet (opens in new window)