YET CITY LOSES 2,500 JOBS IN FEBRUARY

AND UNEMPLOYMENT RATE ROSE TO 6.2% FROM 5.8%

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. [1] 

Total payroll jobs fell 2,500 in February, seasonally adjusted, the fourth month of losses out of the last five, based on newly revised numbers.  Private-sector payroll jobs fell 1,600. January was the bright spot in the last five months, with an increase of 18,400 jobs.

“The number of employed New Yorkers reached 3.5 million, seasonally adjusted– the highest this number has been since first computed in 1978,” Thompson said.

“On the other hand, the City’s labor market numbers in February showed some disappointments,” Thompson said. “Although more New Yorkers are working, the economy lacks momentum.”

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate for City residents rose to 6.2 percent from 5.8 percent in January, which was the first time the City’s unemployment rate had fallen below 6 percent since July 2001.

The number of New York City residents reporting being employed rose on a seasonally adjusted basis by 7,300 to 3.499 million in February – the largest monthly increase since February 2000. 

It should be noted that resident employment and unemployment data are volatile because they are based on a relatively small sample of New York City households. 

The City’s Year-over-Year Monthly Lag behind U.S. in Job Creation Widens

In February, the City’s job growth continued to lag the nation when comparing how employment has grown over a 12-month period. However, the gap widened to 0.9 of a percentage point.  The City has lagged the nation in job creation consistently since March 2001, with the gap opening up significantly in the final months of 2001, as may be seen by the bars in Chart 1.

Chart 1. NYC and U.S. Show Positive Job Growth But NYC Still Lags U.S. in Year-over-Year Monthly Percent Changes in Jobs, Jan. 2000 to Feb. 2005

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.) 

Total Jobs Fell by 2,500 in February, Led by Information and Government

Total jobs located in New York City, seasonally adjusted, fell by 2,500 from January to February. The private sector lost 1,600 jobs.

Private-sector losses were primarily in the information sector, which lost 1,500 jobs—an annualized loss rate of 10.4 percent of the jobs in this sector. Financial activities lost 500 jobs. Losses in other industries were small. The main source of gains was trade, transportation and utilities, which added 700 jobs. This is shown in Chart 2.

Governments in the City reduced the number of their employees by 800 in February, seasonally adjusted—with cuts of 500 State jobs and 300 Federal jobs.

Since December 2000, New York City has lost 189,500 jobs, seasonally adjusted, of which 111,600 jobs (or 58.9 percent) have been lost since September 2001. 

Chart 2. Change in NYC Jobs by NAICS Category, February 2005 vs.
January 2005, Seasonally Adjusted, ‘000, and SAAR

Data Source: New York State Department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, revised series based on NAICS job categories.   The percent-change numbers in parentheses are annualized numbers based on month-to-month changes.  SAAR = Seasonally adjusted annual rate (in parentheses).   

The City’s Unemployment Rate Rose to 6.2 Percent in February

The number of unemployed New Yorkers rose 12,500 to reach 229,300 in February, seasonally adjusted. In January, the number of unemployed had declined 29,100. The City’s labor force—the sum of working New Yorkers plus New Yorkers looking for work—grew by 19,800 in February after a decrease of 22,400 in January. As a result, the unemployment rate rose to 6.2 percent. The labor-force-participation rate also rose to 59.2 percent from 58.9 percent in January, seasonally adjusted. The February labor-force-participation rate was the highest since 59.2 percent in February 2003. The employment-population ratio (the number of working New Yorkers divided by the adult population) was at the highest level in February since the start of the City’s recession in December 2000.

February Borough Unemployment Rates

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the February unemployment rate of City residents was lowest in Staten Island, at 5.6 percent. It was highest in the Bronx at 8.3 percent. The second-highest unemployment rate was in Brooklyn at 6.9 percent followed by 6.0 percent in Queens and 5.7 percent in Manhattan.

On a year-over-year basis, unemployment of City residents fell in all boroughs—by 2.0 percentage points in the Bronx, by 1.6 percentage points in Brooklyn, by 1.3 percentage points in Queens and Staten Island, and by 1.2 percentage points in Manhattan. This suggests that the improvement in the job situation for New Yorkers is occurring throughout the City.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has in recent years re-benchmarked its numbers every year starting with the February data, revising prior months’ data at the same time.  The BLS has announced that in future it will be re-benchmarking on a continuing monthly basis.    

# # #

[1] The numbers are reported according to the 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.  The numbers for February 2005 are part of a re-benchmarked series issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that supersedes previous labor market reports.