Maloney: NYS Unemployment Rate has Stabilized

New York, NY – Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, issued the following statement regarding the New York State Labor Department’s September 2009 state employment data. The data showed that New York State’s unemployment rate remained at 8.9 percent in September.

“Today’s announcement that the unemployment rate in New York appears to have stabilized is one more sign that the worst recession since the Great Depression is beginning to subside,” said Rep. Maloney. “In the coming months, times will continue to be tough for New York families. But it is clear that the policies enacted by President Obama and Democrats in Congress have stemmed job losses, and have created new opportunities for a secure and sustainable economy."

Highlights from the September 2009 state and metropolitan area employment release:

Unemployment across the state remains lower than the national average. The statewide unemployment rate in September was unchanged from August’s revised rate of 8.9 percent. Nearly 848,000 New Yorkers were unemployed in September. Outside of New York City, the unemployment rate held steady at 8.0 percent in September, remaining 1.8 percentage points lower than the national average. Across the state, over 924,000 unemployed workers have received regular unemployment benefits in 2009. Nearly 432,000 have received extended benefits made available through the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 2008 (EUC08), and nearly 104,000 have received extended benefits after exhausting their EUC08 benefits.

New York City remains hard-hit. The New York City unemployment rate ticked up to 10.3 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from August’s revised rate of 10.2 percent. September’s rate was 0.5 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate of 9.8 percent for the month. The City’s unemployment rate has climbed 4.3 percentage points over the past year. The number of unemployed workers in New York City totaled 408,100 in September.

New York employers cut jobs at a more modest pace than employers nationwide. Over the past twelve months, New York employers shed 236,000 jobs, or 2.7 percent of payrolls. Over the same period, payrolls shrank by 4.2 percent nationwide. In September, New York’s private sector employers cut 18,300 jobs, and federal, state and local governments shed an additional 63,400 jobs, as the summer youth employment program came to a close. Over the month (not seasonally adjusted), New York employers added jobs in educational and health services and trade, transportation, and utilities as the new academic year got underway.

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