CITY LOSES 1,100 PAYROLL JOBS; SMALL GAIN OF 700 PRIVATE JOBS; UNEMPLOYMENT FALLS TO 7.9% FROM 8.0%

Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today released his office’s analysis and seasonal adjustment of March job numbers reported by the New York State Department of Labor and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics .¹

The 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.

"The City lost 1,100 jobs in March, seasonally adjusted, despite a gain of 308,000 U.S. jobs,” Thompson said. “The private sector added just 700 jobs. The City did not share in the March gain in U.S. jobs.”

He added: “The unemployment rate fell to 7.9 from 8 percent. Although 26,200 more New Yorkers reported they are working, the number of unemployed fell by just 3,400 from a month earlier, seasonally adjusted. The labor force participation rate rose to 57.6 percent from 57.4 percent.”

The number of employed New York City residents rose to 3,390,200 in March, seasonally adjusted, as the number of unemployed New Yorkers fell to 289,200, seasonally adjusted. The total number of employed New Yorkers has fallen by 53,500 since the recent peak in June 2002. But the City's unemployment rate in March remains 2.2 percentage points above the nation's.

City Continues to Lag the Nation in Job Creation
The gap between the year-over-year percentage loss of jobs in New York City jobs and the year-over-year percentage change in jobs in the nation was narrowing between December and February but rose again in March, to .48 of a percentage point. The City has lagged the nation since March 2001, with the gap opening up significantly in September 2001. The gap between the U.S. and New York City percentage job losses narrowed at the turn of the year, as may be seen in Chart 1.

Chart 1. New York City Continues to Lag the U.S.: Year-over-Year Monthly Percent Changes in Jobs, January 2000 to March 2004, U.S. and NYC

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 216,800 jobs, seasonally adjusted, of which 136,600 (or about 63 percent) have been lost since September 2001.

Seasonally Adjusted Jobs Fell by 1,100 in March

Total jobs located in New York City, seasonally adjusted, fell by 1,100 in March compared with February. The private sector gained 700 jobs and the government sector lost 1,800 jobs. Local government jobs (i.e., jobs in City government and in independent local agencies like the MTA) fell by 1,200, Federal jobs fell by 500 and state jobs fell by 100.

The growth of 700 private jobs in March resulted from gains in three sectors that were offset by losses in five sectors. The gainers were information (2,500 jobs), professional and business services (2,500 jobs) and other services (1,200 jobs). The sectors that lost jobs were trade, transportation and utilities (1,500 jobs), financial activities (1,500 jobs), leisure and hospitality (1,400 jobs), construction (700 jobs) and education and health services (400 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,

March 2004 Compared with February 2004, Seasonally Adjusted

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 Falls to 7.9% in March

The City's unemployment rate in March, seasonally adjusted, fell to 7.9 percent, from 8 percent in February. The number of unemployed New Yorkers, seasonally adjusted, fell by 3,400 in March, after having fallen by 17,200 in February. The number of employed New Yorkers in March rose by 26,200, seasonally adjusted, after having risen by 1,200 in February.

The City's labor-force-participation rate (a measure of the number of New Yorkers working relative to the adult population) was 57.6 percent in March, a rise from 57.4 percent in February, as the decline in the number of New Yorkers looking for work was greatly exceeded by the increase in the number of residents with jobs. The City’s labor-force-participation rate is 8.3 percentage points below the national average of 65.9 percent.

March Unemployment Rates by Borough

Within New York City on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the March unemployment rate of City residents was lowest in Queens, at 6.9 percent. It was highest in the Bronx at 10.5 percent. The second-highest unemployment rate was in Brooklyn at 8.8 percent followed by 7.5 percent in Manhattan and 7 percent in Staten Island.

On a year-over-year basis, unemployment of City residents fell in all boroughs ─ by 1 percentage point in Manhattan, by 0.7 of a percentage point in Brooklyn, by 0.5 of a percentage point in Staten Island, by 0.4 of a percentage point in Queens and by 0.2 of a percentage point in the Bronx.

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¹ The 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.