| BUT NYC UNEMPLOYMENT ALSO RISES, TO 7.8% FROM 7.0% MORE RESIDENTS UNEMPLOYED - FIRST RISE IN 5 MONTHS
Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today released his office’s analysis and seasonal adjustment of June job numbers reported by the New York State Department of Labor and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"The City is back on track, gaining jobs in June,” said Thompson. "But unemployment is also back up to 7.8 percent. In June, 32,300 more New Yorkers were looking for work and couldn’t find a job, bringing the total unemployed to 288,400. This is the first increase in the number of unemployed since January.”
The City’s gain of 3,500 jobs in June is a 1.2 percent annualized increase compared with May, seasonally adjusted. This compares with a 1.0 percent annualized month-to-month increase for the nation.
Thompson added: “The rise in the unemployment rate is possibly a good sign if it means that previously discouraged workers are now back in the job market.“
The number of employed New York City residents fell to 3,393,600 in June, seasonally adjusted, as the number of unemployed New Yorkers rose to 288,400, seasonally adjusted. The total number of employed New Yorkers has fallen by 50,100 since the recent peak in June 2002. The City's unemployment rate in June is 2.2 percentage points above the nation's.
The City’s Lag behind the Nation in Job Creation Narrows
The lag of City month-to-month percentage job growth behind the U.S. job growth narrowed to 0.48 percent. The City has lagged the nation in job creation 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 in June is the narrowest since February 2004, as may be seen in Chart 1.
Chart 1. New York City Lag Behind the U.S. Widens Again in Year-over-Year Monthly Percent Changes in Jobs, January 2000 to June 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.)
The numbers for Chart 1 are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Year-over-Year Monthly Percent Changes in Jobs, January 2003 to June 2004, U.S. and NYC
|
NYC Y/Y Change |
US Y/Y Change |
NYC - US Difference |
January 2003 |
-0.9% |
-0.3% |
-0.59% |
February |
-1.2% |
-0.3% |
-0.85% |
March |
-1.4% |
-0.4% |
-0.98% |
April |
-1.6% |
-0.4% |
-1.22% |
May |
-1.6% |
-0.4% |
-1.26% |
June |
-1.8% |
-0.4% |
-1.31% |
July |
-1.8% |
-0.4% |
-1.47% |
August |
-1.9% |
-0.4% |
-1.49% |
September |
-1.5% |
-0.3% |
-1.14% |
October |
-1.6% |
-0.2% |
-1.39% |
November |
-1.6% |
-0.2% |
-1.40% |
December |
-1.6% |
-0.1% |
-1.51% |
January 2004 |
-0.5% |
-0.0% |
-0.47% |
February |
-0.2% |
0.1% |
-0.31% |
March |
0.0% |
0.5% |
-0.52% |
April |
0.4% |
0.9% |
-0.52% |
May |
0.4% |
1.0% |
-0.63% |
June |
0.7% |
1.2% |
-0.48% |
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 Rose by 3,500 in June
Total jobs located in New York City, seasonally adjusted, rose by 3,500 in June compared with May. The private sector gained 6,100 jobs as the government sector lost 2,600 jobs. Local government jobs (i.e., jobs in City government and in independent local agencies like the MTA) fell by 3,100, while State and Federal jobs each rose by 200. This is shown in Chart 2.
Within the private sector, six categories showed seasonally adjusted job growth and three showed declines. The growth areas, in order of number of new jobs, were: education and health services, which gained 2,800 jobs; information services, which added a net of 1,600 jobs; leisure and hospitality, which added 1,300 jobs; professional and business services, which added 1,100 jobs; other services, which added 600 jobs; and trade, transportation and utilities, which added 300 jobs.
The private-sector areas losing jobs were financial activities, which lost 1,100 jobs; manufacturing, which lost 300 jobs; and construction, which lost 200 jobs.
Chart 2. Change in New York City Jobs by NAICS Category, June 2004 Compared with May 2004, Seasonally Adjusted, ‘000, and SAAR
Data Source: New York State Department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, revised series based on NAICS job categories. The percent-change numbers in parentheses are annualized numbers based on month-to-month changes. SAAR = Seasonally adjusted annual rate (in parentheses).
Since December 2000, New York City has lost 211,700 jobs, seasonally adjusted, of which 131,400 jobs (or about 62 percent) have been lost since September 2001.
City Unemployment Rate Rises to 7.8% in June
The City’s unemployment rate in June, seasonally adjusted, rose to 7.8 percent from 7.0 percent in May. The number of unemployed New Yorkers, seasonally adjusted, rose by 32,300 in June, after having fallen by 16,700 in May. This rise in the number of unemployed New Yorkers was the first since January 2004. The number of employed New Yorkers in June fell by 800, seasonally adjusted, after having risen by 5,500 in May.
The City’s labor-force-participation rate (a measure of the number of New Yorkers working relative to the adult population) was 57.4 percent in June, a positive increase over the 57.0 percent rate in May. The City’s labor-force-participation rate is 8.6 percentage points below the national rate of 66.0 percent.
June Unemployment Rates by Borough
Within New York City on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the June unemployment rate of City residents was lowest in Queens, at 6.2 percent. It was highest in the Bronx at 9.5 percent. The second-highest unemployment rate was in Brooklyn at 8.1 percent, followed by 7.1 percent in Manhattan and 6.6 percent in Staten Island.
On a year-over-year basis, unemployment of City residents fell in all boroughs—by 0.9 of a percentage point in Manhattan, by 0.6 of a percentage point in Staten Island, by 0.5 of a percentage point in Brooklyn and by 0.2 of a percentage point in the Bronx and Queens.
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.
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