-- Number of Employed New York City Residents Dropped by 6,100 --

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

Private-sector payroll jobs rose by 1,400 in December after a loss of 1,100 jobs in November. Total jobs rose by only 900, after a loss of 2,100 jobs in November, as governments reduced their payrolls. The number of New York City residents reporting being employed fell on a seasonally adjusted basis by 6,100 in December – the largest monthly drop in this number since July 2003.

“As a result of December’s weak jobs performance, the unemployment rate rose from 5.4 percent in November to 6.2 percent last month, the largest one-month increase since June of last year,” Thompson said.

The City’s seasonally adjusted December job loss is 0.3 percent annualized month-over-month. This compares with a corresponding increase for the nation of 1.4 percent. The City’s labor force rose by 22,800, seasonally adjusted, after an increase of 3,200 in November. The number of unemployed City residents rose by 28,900 in December to 229,600, after falling by 24,500 in November. The number of employed New York City residents fell to 3,495,100, seasonally adjusted, after having exceeded 3.5 million in November for the first time since December 2000.

The City’s Year-over-Year Monthly Lag behind U.S. in Job Creation Widens
The lag of City year-over-year monthly percentage job growth behind U.S. job growth fell slightly in December to 0.71 of a percentage point. The City has lagged the nation in job creation consistently since March 2001, with the gap opening up significantly in the final months of 2001. (Chart 1)

Chart 1. NYC and U.S. Show Positive Job Growth But NYC Still Lags U.S. in Year-over-Year Monthly Percent Changes in Jobs, January 2000 to Dec. 2004

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 to December 2004, U.S. and NYC

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.)

Total Jobs Rose by 900 as Governments Reduced Payrolls by 500

Total jobs located in New York City, seasonally adjusted, rose by 900 in December compared with November, as governments in the City reduced the number of their employees by 500 on a seasonally adjusted basis. Local government jobs (i.e., jobs in City government and in independent local agencies like the MTA) fell by 300 while Federal jobs fell by 200 and state jobs were unchanged.

Within the private sector, four sectors showed seasonally adjusted job growth and five showed declines. The growth industries were: leisure and hospitality, which added 1,700 jobs; education and health services, which added 1,300 jobs; information, which added 600 jobs; and other services, which added 300 jobs.

On the down side, the industries losing jobs were: construction, which lost 600 jobs; trade, transportation and utilities, which also lost 600 jobs; financial activities, which lost 500 jobs; professional and business services, which also lost 500 jobs; and manufacturing, which lost 400 jobs. (Chart 2)

Since December 2000, New York City has lost 205,400 jobs, seasonally adjusted, of which 125,100 jobs (or 60.9 percent) have been lost since September 2001. From December 2003 to December 2004, the City has gained 33,800 jobs on a non-seasonally adjusted basis.

Chart 2. Change in NYC Jobs by NAICS Category, December Compared with
November 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).

December Unemployment Rates by Borough
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the December unemployment rate of NYC residents was lowest in Queens and Staten Island, with both at 5.1 percent. It was highest in the Bronx at 7.9 percent. The second-highest unemployment rate was in Brooklyn at 6.7 percent followed by 5.7 percent in Manhattan.

On a year-over-year basis, unemployment of City residents fell in all boroughs—by 2.6 percentage points in the Bronx, by 2.0 percentage points in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Manhattan, and by 1.4 percentage points in Queens.

The City’s labor-force-participation rate (a measure of the number of New Yorkers working relative to the adult population) rose to 57.5 percent in December from 57.2 percent in November. The City’s labor-force-participation rate is 8.5 percentage points below the national average of 66.0 percent.

# # #

The numbers are reported according to the 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.