LI Unemployment Finally Returns To Pre-Pandemic Levels

LONG ISLAND, NY — After hitting historic highs in 2020, Long Island's unemployment has finally returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to new data released by the state Department of Labor.

According to the DOL, the unemployment rate for January and February for Long Island was 3.5 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. The last time unemployment rates were that low was January 2020, when the unemployment was at 3.9 percent.

The unemployment rate was slightly worse in Suffolk County than Nassau. Suffolk's February unemployment was 3.9 percent, and Nassau's was 3.5 percent. Last February, Long Island's unemployment was at 6.2 percent.

According to state data, there are 54,700 unemployed Long Islanders. While that number is big, it's 36,600 less than the same month last year.

Still, it's nowhere near the historic highs that were hit when shutdowns began in earnest for the COVID pandemic. In April 2020, unemployment on Long Island skyrocketed to an all-time high of 18.2 percent. That new record was more than double than the peak of the Great Recession that began in 2008.

Statewide, the unemployment rate for February was 5.1 percent, which is much lower than the all-time high during the pandemic of 16.5 percent, which was set in May 2020. But it is also not yet back to pre-pandemic levels. The statewide unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in Feb. 2020.

The hardest-hit area continues to be New York City, which has an unemployment rate of 6.6 percent, which is 264,600 people without jobs. That's significantly lower than the pandemic high of 17.5 percent set in July 2020, but is almost double the city's pre-pandemic unemployment levels.