Long Island Unemployment Finally Returns To Pre-Pandemic Levels

LONG ISLAND, NY — Area unemployment rates have finally returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to new data published by the New York State Department of Labor.

According to the DOL, the unemployment rate on Long Island was 4 percent for October — the lowest it's been since last March. Unemployment was at 4.1 percent in March, just as the pandemic began to take its economic toll.

Since then, unemployment on Long Island — and across the state — rose to record highs. It peaked at a record 17.5 percent last April, and has been gradually decreasing since. That new record was more than double than the peak of the Great Recession that began in 2008.

The new numbers mean more people are working. According to the DOL numbers, there are 655,500 people working in Nassau and 716,000 in Suffolk.

The new numbers are also a big improvement over last October, when unemployment was at 5.9 percent on Long Island.

Statewide unemployment was at 6 percent for October 2021, which is also the lowest it's been since the pandemic began. However, it's not back to the pre-pandemic levels, when unemployment was hovering around 4 percent.

The hardest-hit area continues to be New York City, which has an unemployment rate of 8.4 percent, or 334,100 people out of work. That's the lowest it has been since the pandemic began, but still more than double the pre-pandemic levels.

Long Island's unemployment rate had been falling steadily since the April peak, but was still at historic highs for most of the year. Unemployment jumped back up to over 6 percent in January and February.

September was the first month since the pandemic began when Long Island's unemployment was finally lower than the Great Recession that began in 2008, when it topped out at 8.2 percent in early 2010, according to statistics from the Department of Labor.