Nassau, Hempstead Town Unemployment Up Slightly

Unemployment in both Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead jumped slightly in November, according to statistics released Thursday by the state Department of Labor.

In Nassau, the unemployment rate rose to 7 percent, up from 6.8 percent in October and 6.7 percent in November 2009. 

The Town unemployment rate for the month was 7.3 percent, up from 7.1 percent in October. It was also 7.0 percent in November 2009. There were 28,436 Town of Hempstead residents without jobs last month, compared to 27,804 in October, and 27,132 this time last year.

Despite the increased unemployment rate, Gary Huth, Long Island's labor market analyst for the New York State Department of Labor, said the job market could be bouncing back.

"The good news is the job count stayed positive from a year ago," Huth said. "The momentum has been weaker than we'd like to see, but it's still positive."

Huth said the increase in unemployment was likely because of weak hiring in the retail sector.

But business services, manufacturing, financial services and professional services were all picking up, Huth said. The biggest year-over-year gain was in state government and education, where jobs jumped 13.2 percent. Also in the last year, broadcasting (non-Internet) was up 6.2 percent and educational services moved up 3.5 percent.

In the Five Towns, three banks are looking .

Also up more than expected: The construction industry, which increased by 3.4 percent.

Steve Schneider, chairman of the Cedarhurst Business Improvement District and an owner of commercial property, said the town has been doing well. "We had the most serious recession since the Great Depression and most areas of the country were severely impacted," he said. "Cedarhurst was affected by the changes in the national economy. Business has come back and relative to a lot of places, Cedarhurst is doing comparatively well."

Steve Silverman, the owner of in Cedarhurst, said that although the holiday season has been great for his store and others in the area, that doesn't quickly translate to jobs. "I think people are waiting for some kind of sustained growth, not one month or two month growth," he said. "Until you see that, you won't see stores step up to the plate."

He added, "We've already gone through two to three years of the recession, we hope we're coming out of it. It's sort of like a cruise ship turning, it takes a while."