New York City lost about 23,000 private-sector jobs in September, yet its unemployment rate stayed at 4.8%. Both figures appear in the city’s latest economic reports. They measure different things, and the unchanged unemployment rate does not mean the job losses disappeared.
The September decline followed a loss of about 7,400 private-sector jobs in August, according to the October economic outlook from City Comptroller Mark Levine’s office. NYC’s Economic Development Corporation also reports the 23,000 September decline in its October 22 snapshot.
The payroll figures describe jobs at workplaces in the city. The unemployment rate comes from a survey of residents. It measures the share of people in the labor force who do not have a job and are looking for work, rather than the share of all New Yorkers without a job.
That distinction matters when fewer people are working or looking for work. The comptroller’s report says a decline in labor-force participation kept the city’s unemployment rate unchanged in September even as the number of residents employed fell. The city’s participation rate slipped to 62.0% from 62.1%, according to NYCEDC.
Someone who is not working and is not looking for a job is generally outside the labor force, rather than counted as unemployed. That can include students, retirees and people with family responsibilities. The figures do not show that everyone leaving the labor force has given up looking because they cannot find a job.
The industry numbers also tell a more specific story than the citywide total. Finance lost about 5,800 jobs in September, information lost about 1,700, and leisure and hospitality lost about 7,700, the comptroller’s seasonally adjusted figures show.
There were gains elsewhere. Professional and business services added about 3,800 jobs, although that followed roughly 11,000 jobs lost over the preceding three months. Health care and social assistance continued to add jobs.
For a person searching for work or a business deciding where to hire, those differences are more informative than treating every industry as if it were moving together. A citywide job decline does not mean every employer is cutting staff, just as a flat unemployment rate does not mean hiring conditions are unchanged.
The comptroller’s economists caution against reading too much into a single month. Local employment figures can be volatile, they say, and it is too early to tell whether September’s decline represents emerging economic weakness or seasonal noise.
The share of the city’s working-age population with a job was 59.0% in September, down only modestly from its recent record of 59.2%. That measure includes people outside the labor force and offers another check alongside payrolls and unemployment.
Sources: the NYC comptroller’s October outlook, NYCEDC’s October 22 economic snapshot, New York State’s city labor-market page and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ guide to unemployment measures.
JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.
