Slight Peak in Unemployment in Hempstead in May

Long Island continues to add jobs but not at the pace seen earlier in the year.

The drop-off began four months ago, noted Michael Crowell, senior economist for the New York State Department of Labor.

“In the winter, there were three months of more than 10,000 jobs added per month,” Crowell said.

Since February, however, that rate of growth declined. In May, for instance, Long Island added 3,800 jobs.

“It’s discouraging, obviously,” Crowell said.

Unemployment in both Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead increased slightly in May, according to recent Labor Department statistics, the latest of which were released Tuesday.

Still this most recent report shows that fewer people are looking for work than they were a year ago.

In Hempstead, the unemployment rate for May was 6.9 percent, up from 6.6 percent a month ago. It was 7.3 percent in May 2010.

In Nassau, the unemployment rate increased to 6.5 percent in May, up from 6.3 percent in April. It was at 7 percent in May 2010. There were 44,100 Nassau County residents listed as unemployed in May, up from 42,300 in March, and 47,800 a year ago.

Unemployment is lower in areas such as North Hempstead, Oyster Bay and Rockville Centre perhaps because that population is highly educated, Crowell said. 

Bright spots in the job market include professional and business services – a category that includes well-paying jobs such as architects, lawyers and engineers – which added 1,300 jobs.

Also hiring are employers in the health care and social assistance category, which added 3,900 jobs.

Yet manufacturing and construction, another well paying sector, did not fare as well. Year over year, manufacturing lost 1,800 jobs, and the construction industry lost 700 jobs.

Bleaker still is the government sector, which lost 8,600 jobs over the year. Almost half of those laid off where were Census workers, while 3,100 were from local school districts and the rest were state government workers.

While the overall month-to-month outlook seems disheartening, Crowell pointed out that job growth on Long Island is better than it was a year ago.

Still, a full recovery may be a distance away. As Crowell noted, while the unemployment rate for May was 6.7 percent, the average unemployment rate for the month of May during the last 20 years was 4.8 percent.

“I wish it were better news,” he said.