Town Unemployment Rate Dips In March

The unemployment rate in March across Suffolk County was 7.5 percent, a drop of 0.6 percent from the same month in 2010. Jobless rates in Islip and Babylon towns also saw similar declines as job growth slowly improved.

According to figures from the New York State Department of Labor, the jobless rate in Islip Town was 7.8 percent, down from 8.5 percent in March of 2010. Babylon Town’s jobless rate for March was 7.7 percent, down from 8.5 percent in March of last year.

Figures for the Village of Lindenhurst show the March unemployment rate at 7.8 percent, down from 8.4 percent for the same month a year ago.

Jim Brown, a labor market analyst with state’s Department of Labor, said a pickup in seasonal hiring as the weather warms is helping improvement employment levels.

“There was fairly significant job growth between February and March,” he said.

According to the Department of Labor, 10,300 private sector jobs on Long Island were added in March, an increase of 1 percent. Gains were seen in educational and health services (+6,500); leisure and hospitality (+3,400); trade, transportation and utilities (+2,800); and other services (+1,800).

The largest number of job losses was seen in natural resources, mining and construction (-3,000), manufacturing (-1,300), information (-1,000) and government jobs (-2,300).

The unemployment rate for Long Island in March 2011 was 7.1 percent, down 0.7 percent when compared to March 2010’s rate of 7.8 percent. New York as a whole saw a significant drop in unemployment as the rate fell from 9.1 percent in March 2010 to 8 percent for March 2011.

Lon Cohen contributed to this story.