New York state economy tops 8 million private sector jobs; statewide unemployment rate falls to 4.6%

28,500 private sector jobs added in January

In January, New York state's private sector job count increased by 28,500, or 0.4 percent, to 8,035,600, a new record high, according to preliminary figures released by the New York State Department of Labor. Since the end of the state's recession in late 2009, New York has added more than 1 million private-sector jobs. Since the beginning of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's administration, New York's economy has added 941,500 private-sector jobs and experienced employment growth in 62 of the past 73 months.

In January, New York's statewide unemployment rate decreased from 4.8 percent to 4.6 percent, its lowest level since June 2007. Pushing the statewide rate lower was a steep drop in New York City's rate, which fell from 4.9 percent to 4.5 percent, its lowest level on record going back to 1976.

The state's private-sector job count is based on a payroll survey of 18,000 New York employers conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monthly payroll employment estimates are preliminary and subject to revision as more data becomes available the following month. The federal government calculates New York's unemployment rate based partly upon the results of the Current Population Survey, which contacts approximately 3,100 households in New York each month.

"The state's labor market continued to expand in January 2017. Not only did the statewide economy reach a new record high of more than 8,000,000 private sector jobs, but our state's unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in almost a decade," said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, deputy director of the New York State Department of Labor's Division of Research and Statistics.

Note: Seasonally adjusted data are used to provide the most valid month-to-month comparison. Nonseasonally adjusted data are valuable in year-to-year comparisons of the same month - for example, January 2016 versus January 2017.

Jobs data are revised at the end of each year for all states and the nation as more complete information becomes available from employers' unemployment insurance records. This process is called "benchmarking" and is federally mandated. For more details, see: annual benchmark analysis (opens in new window).

Labor force data, including unemployment rates, are also revised at the end of each year, using methods established by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The revised labor force data show New York's annual average unemployment rate fell from 5.3 percent in 2015 to 4.8 percent in 2016.