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But Labor-Force-Participation Falls to 57.4%, the Lowest Since October 1996
New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today released his office’s analysis and seasonal adjustment of February job numbers reported by the New York State Department of Labor and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"The jobs picture is basically positive," said Comptroller Thompson. "In February the City gained 2,300 jobs, seasonally adjusted. This growth is modest, but is heading in the right direction.”
He added: “The unemployment rate fell to 8 percent, as 1,300 more New Yorkers than last month had jobs. At the same time, the number of unemployed New Yorkers dropped by 17,200, seasonally adjusted – the largest monthly drop since March 1999.”
The City's labor-force-participation rate (a measure of the number of New Yorkers working relative to the adult population) was 57.4 percent in February, a deterioration from 57.7 percent in January, as the decline in the number of New Yorkers looking for work greatly exceeded the number of new residents with jobs. This represents the lowest labor-force-participation rate since October 1996.
Thompson said: “The decline in the rate over the past year is a sign of a possible growth in the number of discouraged workers.”
The number of employed New York City residents rose to 3,364,200 in February, seasonally adjusted, as the number of unemployed New Yorkers fell to 292,600, seasonally adjusted. The total number of employed New Yorkers has fallen by 79,500 since the recent peak in June 2002. But the City's unemployment rate in February still remains 2.4 percentage points above the nation's.
Gap with Nation's Year-over-Year Job Loss
The gap between the year-over-year percentage loss of jobs in New York City jobs and the year-over-year percentage change in jobs in the nation has been narrowing and in February fell to 0.3 of a percentage point, the lowest number in 14 months. The City has lagged the nation since March 2001, with the gap opening up significantly in September 2001. The gap between the U.S. and New York City percentage job losses narrowed in the last quarter of 2002, then grew again until December, as may be seen in Chart 1.
Chart 1. New York City Continues to Lag the U.S.: Year-over-Year Monthly Percent Changes in Jobs, January 2000 to February 2004, U.S. and NYC
Data Source: See Following Table
|
NYC Y/Y Change |
US Y/Y Change |
NYC – US Difference |
2003 - January |
-0.9% |
-0.3% |
-0.59% |
February |
-1.2% |
-0.3% |
-0.85% |
March |
-1.4% |
-0.4% |
-0.98% |
April |
-1.6% |
-0.4% |
-1.22% |
May |
-1.6% |
-0.4% |
-1.26% |
June |
-1.8% |
-0.4% |
-1.31% |
July |
-1.8% |
-0.4% |
-1.47% |
August |
-1.9% |
-0.4% |
-1.49% |
September |
-1.5% |
-0.3% |
-1.14% |
October |
-1.6% |
-0.2% |
-1.39% |
November |
-1.6% |
-0.2% |
-1.40% |
December |
-1.6% |
-0.1% |
-1.51% |
2004 - January |
-0.5% |
-0.0% |
-0.46% |
February |
-0.2% |
0.1% |
-0.30% |
Data Source: Computations by the NYC Comptroller's Office based on data from New York State Department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Y/Y = Year over Year.)
Since December 2000, New York City has lost 215,500 jobs, seasonally adjusted, of which 135,500 (or about 63 percent) have been lost since September 2001.
Seasonally Adjusted Jobs Rose by 2,300 in February
Total jobs located in New York City, seasonally adjusted, rose by 2,300 in February, compared with the January job numbers. The private sector gained 1,000 jobs and the government sector gained 1,300 jobs. Local government jobs (i.e., jobs in City government and in independent local agencies like the MTA) rose by 1,900 but Federal jobs fell by 500 and state jobs fell by 100.
The February growth in jobs was in every sector except financial activities (lost 1,900 jobs, of which 400 were in the securities industry), manufacturing (lost 1,600 jobs) and information (lost 1,000). The largest increase was in education and health services, which grew by 2,900 jobs, followed by professional and business services, which grew by 1,800 jobs.
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,
February 2004 Compared with January 2004, 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 numbers are reported according to the new North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), which replaced the previous Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, as described at http://stats.bls.gov/sae/saenaics.htm.
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