Unemployment on the Rise

Putnam’s unemployment rate might be the lowest in the region, but it rose by onetenth of one percent for December, 2009.

The New York State Labor Department reported last Thursday that the county’s rate of unemployment was 6.6 percent in December, up slightly from 6.5 percent in November, 2009, which had been down from 6.9 percent for the previous three months.

The numbers compare to a 5.2 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.

In its monthly report, the NY State Labor Department indicated 17,700 jobs lost throughout the Hudson Valley in December, upping the total to more than 800,000 people who became unemployed in the nine-county region in the past year.

Gains in employment were limited to health and educational services, where 4,900 jobs were added regionally, while the largest declines occurred in transportation and utilities, where 5,200 people became unemployed, with manufacturing, professional and business services, leisure, hospitality, and construction close behind.

John Nelson, an analyst with the New York State Department of Labor, told the Courier, “the Hudson Valley’s job market continues to feel the impact of the fallout of the national recession and poor economic conditions since private sector jobs declined by 2.3 percent for the 12 months ending December 31, 2009.”

The Labor Department reported a 6.9 percent rate of unemployment in Westchester, 6.7 percent in Rockland, and 7.6 percent in Dutchess County. Statewide, the 9 percent unemployment rate matches a 26-year high.

—Eric Gross