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UNEMPLOYMENT RATE ROSE TO 7.9%;
NYC-U.S. UNEMPLOYMENT GAP WIDENS TO 2.2%
New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today issued
his office’s analysis and seasonal adjustment of December
job numbers that were released by the New York State Department
of Labor and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics1.
"The City lost 800 private-sector jobs, seasonally adjusted,
in December, as the City's unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent,"
said Comptroller Thompson. "Furthermore, these decreases were
from a November base that was revised downward by 500 jobs by the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics."
He added: "The number of unemployed New York City residents
rose by 7,500 in December to 292,000, seasonally adjusted, after
falling in the previous two months. The number of employed New Yorkers
fell in December, seasonally adjusted, by 18,000, after rising in
the previous month. The City's unemployment rate in December was
2.2 percentage points above the nation's, a deterioration from the
previous month, when the gap was 1.8 percentage points."
Gap with Nation's Year-over-Year Job Loss
The U.S. recession was officially declared over in December 2001,
but the New York City recession continued through the second quarter
of 2003. The gap between the U.S. and New York City percentage job
losses continues to narrow, as may be seen in Chart 1.
Chart 1. New York City Continues to Lag the U.S.: Year-over-Year
Monthly Percent Changes, Jobs, January 2000 through December 2003,
U.S. and NYC.
| 2003 |
NYC Y/Y Change |
US Y/Y Change |
NYC - US Change |
| January |
-1.2% |
-0.2% |
-1.02% |
| February |
-1.6% |
-0.2% |
-1.34% |
| March |
-1.8% |
-0.3% |
-1.50% |
| April |
-1.4% |
-0.2% |
-1.17% |
| May |
-1.8% |
-0.3% |
-1.46% |
| June |
-1.7% |
-0.4% |
-1.37% |
| July |
-1.4% |
-0.3% |
-1.11% |
| August |
-1.8% |
-0.4% |
-1.43% |
| September |
-1.0% |
-0.3% |
-0.74% |
| October |
-0.9% |
-0.2% |
-0.68% |
| November |
-0.7% |
-0.2% |
-0.48% |
| December |
-0.5% |
-0.0% |
-0.43% |
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| 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.) |
Seasonally Adjusted Jobs Fell by 400 in December
Total jobs located in New York City, seasonally adjusted, fell
by 400 in December, compared with November. The November job numbers
were revised downward by 400 jobs from their first release last
month, however, creating a cumulative drop of 1,100 on a seasonally
adjusted basis. The private sector lost 800 jobs compared with November,
which was revised down by 500 jobs (a cumulative drop of 900 jobs,
seasonally adjusted).
The government sector gained 400 jobs as local government jobs
(i.e., jobs in City government and in independent local agencies
like the MTA) rose by 300, state jobs rose by 200 and federal jobs
fell by 100, all seasonally adjusted.
The net seasonally adjusted loss of 800 jobs in the private sector
was made up of losses offset by increases. The greatest sector loss
was 1,100 jobs in the trade, transportation and utilities sector,
followed by a loss of 600 jobs in the "other services"
sector, 500 jobs in manufacturing and 400 jobs in professional and
business services. Greatest job growth was in the high-paying financial
services sector, which grew by 1,000 jobs, followed by growth of
600 jobs in the information sector and 100 jobs in leisure and hospitality.
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, December
2003 Compared with November 2003, Seasonally Adjusted
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| Data Source: New York State Department of
Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, revised series based
on NAICS job categories. |
City Unemployment Rate Rises to 7.9% in December
The City's unemployment rate in December 2003, seasonally adjusted,
rose to 7.9 percent, from 7.7 percent in November. The number of
unemployed New Yorkers, seasonally adjusted, rose by 7,500 in December,
after having fallen by 17,700 New Yorkers in November and 26,400
in October. The number of employed New Yorkers fell by 18,000, seasonally
adjusted, after having risen by 28,800 in November.
The labor force participation rate fell to 57.0 percent from 57.3
percent in November, down from the high of 65.6 in July 2002. This
rate is a measure of the number of New Yorkers working relative
to the adult
population. The 17-month NYC decline is a sign of a possible growth
in the number of discouraged workers. If the labor force participation
rate were at the level of July 2002, the NYC unemployment rate would
have risen to 19.9 percent.
New York City's seasonally adjusted December unemployment rate of
7.9 percent is 2.2 percentage points higher than the nation's seasonally
adjusted December unemployment rate of 5.7 percent, a deterioration
from November.
Unemployment by Borough, December 2003 and Comparison with
a Year Earlier
Within New York City, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the December
unemployment rate of New York City residents was lowest in Queens
at 6.3 percent. It was highest in the Bronx at 10.3 percent. Unemployment
was second highest at 8.5 percent in Brooklyn, followed by 7.5 percent
in Manhattan and 7.0 percent in Staten Island.
On a year-over-year basis, the news is mostly good. Unemployment
of New York City residents fell in three boroughs. It fell the most
among residents of Manhattan, by 0.9 of a percentage point, followed
by a decline of 0.6 of a percentage point in Brooklyn and 0.5 of
a percentage point in Queens. Unemployment rose by 0.2 of a percentage
point in Staten Island and 0.1 of a percentage point in the Bronx.
# # #
1The numbers are reported according to the new North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS), which replaced the previous Standard
Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, as described at http://stats.bls.gov/sae/saenaics.htm.
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