State unemployment drops from 9 to 8.6% in November (Why am I not shocked)

New York City

TROY — New York’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 9 percent in October to 8.6 percent in November.

At 6.3 percent, Saratoga County ranked second in the top 10 of the state’s counties with the lowest unemployment rates in November, according to figures given Thursday.

In the not seasonally-adjusted numbers, the state’s Labor Department said that, out of 62 counties, Albany ranked fourth with 6.4 percent, Schenectady was 15th with 7.3 percent and Rensselaer was 10th with 7 percent.

Against historical figures, state statistics this year showed a drop in the season-adjusted numbers from October to November. Usually, according to past data, the unemployment rate increases from October to November, said Kevin Jack, state labor market analyst.

This usual increase has occurred with the Capital

District’s unemployment numbers for the past nine years.

 “This is a welcomed relief this year, but I think we need to see several more months of improved numbers like this before we can say we are in an economic recovery. This is a breather before the unemployment rates increase again,” said Jack.

He noted that unemployment rates tend to be lower in upstate and higher near New York City.

Despite the improvement from last month, the announced figures were still higher than last year: In November 2008, the city of Troy’s rate was 6.6 percent; Rensselaer County’s was 5.5 percent; Albany County’s was 5.2 percent; Schenectady County’s was 5.4 percent; and Saratoga County’s was 5 percent.

The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate for the Capital District in November 2009 was 6.9 percent, the second lowest rate for a region in the state after Long Island.

The number of unemployed state residents decreased from 871,000 to 833,900. Private sector jobs in the state also decreased by 2,500, or less than 0.1 percent, to 7,052,200.

Since the New York State economy went into recession in August 2008, the state’s private sector job count has declined in 14 of the past 15 months, officials said.

“New York State’s unemployment rate at 8.6 percent remained well below the nation’s rate of 10 percent in November 2009. Moreover, employers in the state cut jobs over the past year at a more modest pace than those in the nation as a whole,” said Peter A. Neenan, director of the Division of Research and Statistics. “While the latest data suggest improvement, it is too early to establish a clear trend.”

In the city of Troy, the unemployment rate reached a 16-year high in September at 9.8 percent. It has since dropped to 8.5 percent as of November’s figures.

The last time the Collar City’s unemployment rate was that high was in 1992, when the rate was 10.5 percent in January. Going back to 1990, the lowest unemployment rate the city had was in April and May of 2001 at 3.7 percent, according to the state Labor Department.