Wednesday
June 20, 2012

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Joblessness up across the region in May

County

May 2012

April 2012

May 2011

State rank in May

Columbia

7.7 %

7.2 %

7.0 %

13

Dutchess

8.2 %

7.4 %

7.3 %

22

Greene

9.6 %

9.4 %

8.5 %

49

Orange

8.3 %

8.2 %

7.5 %

25

Putnam

6.8 %

6.2 %

6.5 %

2

Rockland

7.0 %

6.6 %

6.1 %

3

Sullivan

9.7 %

9.4 %

8.7 %

51

Ulster

8.8 %

8.2 %

7.8 %

39

Westchester

7.2 %

6.7 %

6.5 %

6

WHITE PLAINS – Unemployment in the Hudson Valley and Catskills rose during the 12 month period ending in May, the state Labor Department reported Tuesday.

State Labor Department Analyst John Nelson, though, said the rise in unemployment is nothing to worry about.

“You will notice that the labor force at the same time increased by almost 10,000, 9,700 to be exact, so that’s a good sign, because I think what’s really happening is part of it is attributed to as the good news continues to spread throughout the region of the improvement in the job market, people who had dropped out of the labor force are reentering the labor force,” he said.

Putnam County had the second lowest rate in the state at 6.8 percent; only Tompkins County at 6.4 percent, was lower. Of the 62 counties in the state, Sullivan County ranked 51st with the highest unemployment in the region at 9.7 percent.

Greene County saw the biggest gain in joblessness in May with an increase of 1.1 percent. Ulster and Sullivan each rose by one percent.

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