"The City's March job losses are troubling, following a similarly large job loss in February," Thompson said. "The seasonally adjusted numbers show a loss of 10,600 jobs in the City in March, on top of a loss of 11,100 in February." Numbers are reported according to the new NAICS classifications.

"Unemployment fell slightly in March, but the reason was not encouraging," Thompson said. "It reflects the fact that fewer people are looking for work."

Gap with Nation's Year-over-Year Job Growth Widens in March

The March data show that the gap between New York City's job growth and that of the nation has widened for a second month. The City has lagged the nation since March 2001, with the gap opening up significantly in September 2001 and generally narrowing a year later until January 2003, as may be seen in Chart 1.

Chart 1. New York City Continues to Lag the Nation: Year-over-Year Monthly Percent Changes in Jobs, January 2000 through March 2003, United States and New York City Data Source: New York State Department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Since December 2000, New York City has lost 236,200 jobs, seasonally adjusted, of which 156,500 (or 66.3 percent) have been lost since September 2001. The seasonally adjusted losses for the private sector alone were slightly smaller - 230,200 since December 2000 and 149,500 (64.9 percent) since September 2001.

Seasonally Adjusted Jobs Were Down by 10,600 in March, of which 5,200 Were in Government - Significant Losses in Both Blue-Collar and White-Collar Jobs

Seasonally adjusted, the largest losses in March in any single category were in government jobs, which fell by 5,200. Using the new NAICS classifications, four private-sector categories lost seasonally adjusted jobs in March:

• Leisure and hospitality, down 2,900 jobs
  
• Financial activities, down 2,300 jobs
  
• Manufacturing, down 1,800 jobs
  
• Trade, transportation and utilities, down 1,600 jobs

Only the information sector gained more than 1,000 jobs, with an increase of 1,500 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis. On a net basis, all private-sector jobs fell by 5,400.

These numbers may be seen in Chart 2, which combines several related NAICS categories to simplify the analysis.

Chart 2. Change in New York City Jobs by NAICS Category, March 2003 Compared with February 2003, Seasonally Adjusted Data Source: New York State Department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Revised Series based on NAICS Job Categories.

The March Unemployment Rate of 8.5% Is Down Slightly from February,
But Not Because More New Yorkers Are Working

The City's unemployment rate in March 2003, seasonally adjusted, fell to 8.5 percent from 8.8 percent in February. But the drop in the unemployment rate did not occur because more unemployed people were working. The number of people working actually fell by 16,600, seasonally adjusted. The number of unemployed fell by 16,500, meaning fewer New Yorkers were looking for work. The total net loss to the City labor force was therefore 33,200 New Yorkers. (These two numbers do not add exactly due to rounding.)

New York City's March seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 8.5 percent is 2.7 percentage points higher than that of the nation's 5.8 percent.
Unemployment by Borough, in March and Comparison with a Year Earlier

Within New York City, on a nonseasonally adjusted basis, the March unemployment rate was highest in the Bronx at 10.7 percent and lowest in Queens at 7.3 percent. Unemployment was 9.5 percent in Brooklyn, 8.5 percent in Manhattan and 7.4 percent in Staten Island.

On a year-over-year basis, unemployment rose the most in the Bronx, an increase of 1.7 percentage points from 9.0 percent in March 2002 to 10.7 percent in March 2003. The next-highest increase was 1.3 percentage points in Staten Island, from 6.1 percent in March 2002 to 7.4 percent in March 2003. The unemployment rate in Brooklyn rose by 0.9 percentage point, in Queens by 0.6 percentage point and in Manhattan by 0.2 percentage point.

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