20 Year Highs

Putnam’s rate of unemployment is the highest in years.

The Putnam Legislature’s Economic Development Committee received the disturbing news at its meeting last week—7 percent of the county’s population is out of work.

The numbers compare to a 4.4 percent unemployment rate a year ago and a distant reminder that in 1998, Putnam’s 2.2 percent rate of unemployment was the lowest in all of New York State.

Added to the troubling mix is that for seven of the first nine months of 2009, double digit foreclosures have been reported countywide.

Fourteen more families lost their homes in September bringing the nine month total to 102. In 2008 Putnam’s foreclosure judgments reached an all time high when 173 families lost their homes to the taxman.

Legislator Dan Birmingham of Brewster who chairs the Economic Development Committee called the numbers “sobering. The economy has been on a downward spiral nationally. We in Putnam County continue to feel the pinch as well.”

Legislator Tony Fusco of Mahopac

Legislator Tony Fusco of Mahopac Falls who also serves on the committee with Legislator Dini LoBue of Mahopac agreed that the number of unemployed Putnam residents was “scary. This is a hardship. We must do more for our local constituents by attracting business and development to our towns and villages.”

The Mahopac legislator talked about a family which lost its home to foreclosure and is now being forced to rent the same dwelling from its new owners: “These are bad times.”

LoBue also expressed concern over Gov. Paterson’s announced reductions in mid-year state aid allotments to schools and local governments: “Caution is the watchword. Costs must be reduced wherever corners can be cut.”

Legislator Sam Oliverio of Putnam Valley, the lone Democrat on the nine member legislature, said the foreclosure rate concerned him more than anything: “Since May the numbers are double digit. Last month, 14 people lost their homes. While our unemployment is still the lowest in the region, only a decade ago, Putnam’s 2.2 percent rate of unemployment was the lowest in the state.

The NYS Labor Department released its monthly report last week indicating 16,900 jobs lost throughout the Hudson Valley in September upping the total to more than 775,000 people who have become unemployed in the nine-county region in the past year.

Seven thousand residents of Putnam were unemployed in September as compared to 2,800 in September 2008.

Putnam’s rate of unemployment while much higher than the 4.4 percent recorded in September 2008 is still the lowest in the entire region. The Labor Department reported a 7.4 percent rate of unemployment for both Westchester and Rockland; 7.9 percent in Columbia and 8.1 percent in Dutchess County.

John Nelson, an analyst with the New York State Department of Labor, told the Courier the greatest loss of jobs was in the areas of trade, transportation and utilities: “Professional and business services were next followed by manufacturing positions.”

Nelson said employment gains took place in the fields of education and health care services where 3,650 positions were filled during the past month.