May unemployment dips to 9.6% from 9.8% in April and the city’s workforce climbs to over 4 million as economy rebounds quickly.
The city continued its rebound in May as the unemployment rate fell for the fifth straight month and the economy posted over-the-year private-sector job gains just nine months after losses had peaked.
The May unemployment rate dipped to 9.6% from 9.8% in April, likely aided by government hiring for the Census, according to a report released Thursday by the state Department of Labor. The state unemployment rate fell to 8.3% from 8.4% a month earlier. The national jobless rate stands at 9.7%.
Also in May, the city’s workforce climbed to 4,001,100, the highest level since at least 1976 and probably the highest level ever, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He called the growth in the labor force “a sign that people from around the state, country and world believe in New York City’s future and are coming here to pursue opportunities.”
The city added 8,000 private-sector jobs in May, not insignificant, though not nearly as robust as the gains of the previous two months, according to an analysis of the DOL data by the Fiscal Policy Institute.
Some 18,000 government jobs were added in May, many of them Census-related. Also, over-the-year private-sector employment rose by 1,300 jobs—the first such increase since December 2008.
“When you look at how fast we moved from very severe over-the-year losses, it was a very dramatic recovery,” said James Brown, principal economist at the Department of Labor. “It usually takes much longer just to break even.”
Indeed, it took just nine months from when over-the-year job losses peaked in August for the city to post gains. By contrast, it took 26 months during the previous recession for the city to post the first positive over-the-year job numbers.
Mr. Brown says one reason for the rapid recovery is that initial cutbacks made by some businesses in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009 were probably too harsh. “There was a lot of uncertainty and uncertainty causes businesses to stop hiring and trim overhead as fast as they can,” he said. “They may have cut employment more than what they actually needed to.”
Is our economic system too reactionary? Is our economic system too politically driven?
One thing we are certain of: Real estate always benefits by strong employment….