Unemployment Continues To Hit HV Hard, Breaking June Records

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The New York Labor Department released preliminary unemployment numbers for July, and the Hudson Valley region saw even more people out of work than in previous months.

According to preliminary data from labor officials, unemployment was 14 percent in July in the Orange-Rockland-Westchester metro area, up from 12.5 percent in June. For the Dutchess-Putnam metro area, the rate was 12.5 percent, up from 11.3 percent. For the Kingston metropolitan statistical area, the jobless rate was 12.4 percent, up from 11.2 percent.

The closures caused by the coronavirus have caused a massive wave in unemployment — the rate was 3.8 percent last July in the Dutchess-Putnam metro area and 4 percent in the Kingston and Orange-Rockland-Westchester metro areas.

The worst month in the Hudson Valley region was April, which brought unemployment rates to above 14 percent. In March, before the closures began, unemployment was at or below 4 percent. Unemployment claims skyrocketed in mid-March. SEE: Coronavirus In NY: 85,000 Make Unemployment Claims

In July, New York City was the hardest-hit area in the state, with an unemployment rate of 20 percent — the second-highest it's been since the pandemic began. It's just slightly lower than the former high of June, when unemployment was at 20.4 percent in the city.

The unemployment rate state-wide for July was 16 percent, which is the highest ever — it also breaks the record that was just set in June, when unemployment was 15.5 percent. According to the state, there were 1,548,600 New Yorkers out of work in July — the largest number since records began to be kept in 1976, and more than 87,000 more since June.

In the Great Recession, unemployment in New York peaked at 9.6 percent (January 2010).

According to the state, the unemployment numbers come from a survey of 18,000 businesses in New York, which does not include self-employed workers, agricultural workers, unpaid family workers and domestic workers employed by private households.

SEE ALSO: Unemployment Soars In The Hudson Valley