Hudson Valley Job Market Has Bright September
In a happy change of pace, the New York State Department of Labor’s latest report on unemployment in the Hudson Valley shows largely positive news across the board. For September 2016 the region’s private sector job count reached 793,000, a record high for the month. Private sector job growth was broad-based, with seven of nine sectors recording job gains. Aided by a strong healthcare component, the region’s educational and health services sector continued its positive trend, growing by 3.8 percent year-over-year. That’s the strongest September growth since 1999. After an unimpressive August (+2.1 percent), job count in the natural resources, mining, and construction sector rebounded nicely with a growth of 4.4 percent in September.
Of the 10 labor market regions in New York State, private sector job growth in the Hudson Valley (1.9 percent) was second only to NYC (+2.3 percent). Within the region, year-over-year, job growth was fastest in the Kingston MSA (+4.0 percent), followed by the Orange-Rockland-Westchester labor market area (+1.8 percent), the Dutchess-Putnam MSA (+1.5 percent), and Sullivan County (+1.0 percent).
