Strong US Job Market Even Stronger In The Hudson Valley

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The job market continued to be hot in the lower and mid-Hudson Valley in 2022, according to recent data from the New York State Department of Labor.

In the metro regions, there was little difference between Dutchess-Putnam, Kingston and Orange-Rockland-Westchester, where unemployment in 2022 was 2.5 percent, 2.6 percent and 2.5 percent respectively.

New York State's job growth outpaced the country as a whole. Private sector jobs (not seasonally adjusted) increased by 271,800, or 3.4 percent, over the year in December 2022, which exceeded the 3.2 percent increase in the number of private sector jobs across the U.S.

It's part of a trend. Nationally, unemployment has gone from record highs during the COVID-19 pandemic to near record lows.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that employers posted 11 million job openings in December, an unexpected jump from 10.4 million in November and the largest number since July. The government said Friday that employers added 517,000 jobs in January and that the unemployment rate dipped to 3.4 percent, the lowest level since 1969. There are now about two job vacancies, on average, for every unemployed American, the Associated Press reported.

James Neave, head of data science at Adzuna, an international job search engine, said Friday in a news release: "Hiring is solid and jobs are plentiful. On Adzuna, advertised job vacancies in the U.S. tracked 9.3 million in January. And, despite recession clouds looming, the job market still has the wind in its sails. Employees that want better pay to keep up with inflation should be aware that opportunities are there for the taking."

For all of 2022, the economy added a sizzling average of roughly 375,000 jobs a month, the AP reported. That was a pace vigorous enough to have contributed to some of the painful inflation Americans have endured. A tight job market tends to put upward pressure on wages, which, in turn, feed into inflation.

In New York, the fastest rate of growth was in the leisure and hospitality sector, which grew by 8.6 percent over the year. The largest industry sector, private educational and health services, grew by 4.6 percent.

By county, the unemployment rate in December:

• Dutchess: 2.5 percent
• Orange: 2.6
• Putnam: 2.4
• Rockland: 2.3
• Ulster: 2.6
• Westchester: 2.5

New York State’s seasonally adjusted unemployment held constant at 4.3 percent in December 2022.

"Unemployment is really no longer an issue since the country has recovered from much of the fallout of the pandemic," Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst, said in a news release. "The next step might be looking to open up immigration to fill the surplus of jobs nationwide. Doing so would not only help businesses meet their needs, but would also drive additional economic growth."

Labor force statistics, including the unemployment rate, for New York and every other state are based on statistical regression models specified by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.