New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today released his office's analysis and seasonal adjustment of June employment figures that were released by the New York State Department of Labor and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"After seasonal adjustments, New York City lost another 9,000 jobs in June," Comptroller Thompson said. "That figure, together with an upward adjustment of the May numbers to 3,600 jobs lost, means that the City has lost 22,800 jobs, on a seasonally adjusted basis, through June of this year. Since December 2000, the seasonally adjusted figures show the City has lost 241,500 jobs."

The numbers are reported according to the new NAICS classifications.¹

Gap with Nation's Year-over-Year Job Loss Widens in June

The gap between the percentage loss in New York City jobs compared with the percentage loss in the nation exceeded one-half of a percentage point for the second month in a row. The gap was 0.56 of a percentage point in June, 0.02 of a percentage point greater than the May gap. The City has lagged the nation since March 2001, with the gap opening significantly in September 2001. The U.S. recession has now been officially declared over as of November 2001, but the New York City recession has continued. The gap between the U.S. and New York City percentage job losses narrowed until January 2003, after which it has increased. See Chart 1.

Chart 1. New York City Continues to Lag the Nation: Year-over-Year Monthly Percent Changes in Jobs, January 2000 through June 2003, United States and New York City

	NYC Y/Y CHANGE	US Y/Y CHANGE	DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NYC & US
January 03	-1.4%	-1.7%	0.36%
February 03	-2.0%	-1.9%	-0.06%
March 03	-2.2%	-1.6%	-0.61%
April 03	-2.0%	-0.8&	-1.18%
May 03	1.3%	1.8%	-0.54%
June 03	1.2%	1.7%	-0.56%

Data Source: Computations by the NYC Comptroller's Office based on data from New York State Department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Y/Y = Year over Year.)

Since December 2000, New York City has lost 241,500 jobs, seasonally adjusted, of which 162,900 (or 67.5 percent) have been lost since September 2001.

Seasonally Adjusted Jobs Fell by 9,000 in June

Seasonally adjusted government jobs fell by 1,500. Federal jobs fell by 800, state jobs by 300 and local jobs (i.e., jobs in the City government and in independent local agencies like the MTA) fell by 500.

Seasonally adjusted private-sector jobs fell by 7,500. The largest loss was 5,000 jobs in business services, followed by 4,000 jobs in the high-paying financial activities sector (which includes banking, securities, insurance and real estate), and 2,100 jobs in the trade, transportation and utilities sector. Manufacturing fell by 1,100 jobs, the information sector by 1,000 jobs and "other services" fell by 500 jobs. The two main areas of growth were (1) education and health services, which added 3,600 jobs, and (2) construction, which added 2,700 jobs.

These numbers may be seen in Chart 2, which combines several related NAICS categories to simplify the analysis.

Chart 2. Change in New York City Jobs by NAICS Category, June 2003 Compared with May 2003, Seasonally Adjusted, Thousands Data Source: New York State Department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, revised series based on NAICS job categories.

Unemployment Rate Unchanged at 8.1% in June

The City's unemployment rate in June 2003, seasonally adjusted, remained at 8.1 percent. Both civilian employment and unemployment fell in June, seasonally adjusted. Employment fell by 4,200 in June and the number of unemployed fell by 1,200, seasonally adjusted.

The labor force participation rate continued to fall in June, to 57.4 percent from a high of 65.6 in July 2002. This is a measure of the number of New Yorkers working relative to the adult population. The corresponding U.S. figure in June 2003 was 66.6 percent.

New York City's seasonally adjusted June unemployment rate of 8.1 percent is 1.7 percentage points higher than the nation's seasonally adjusted June unemployment rate of 6.4 percent.

Unemployment by Borough, June 2003 and Comparison with a Year Earlier

Within New York City, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the June unemployment rate of New York City residents was lowest in Queens and Staten Island, at 6.4 percent. It was highest in the Bronx at 9.4 percent. Unemployment was 8.5 percent in Brooklyn and 7.6 percent in Manhattan.

On a year-over-year basis, unemployment of New York City residents fell one- half of a percentage point for Manhattan residents in June, from 8.1 percent in June 2002. It remained unchanged in Staten Island but increased for residents of the other three boroughs.

The increase in June unemployment was greatest in the Bronx, where it rose by 0.4 percentage point compared with June 2002. The increase was 0.3 percentage point in Brooklyn and 0.2 percentage point in Queens.