Islip Town Unemployment Rate Down Slightly In May

May unemployment figures for the Town of Islip released on Tuesday by the New York State Department of Labor were down year-over-year, but up slightly when compared to figures from April.

According to the labor department, the unemployment rate across the township for May was 7.3 percent, down marginally from May 2010 when the rate was 7.5 percent. Seasonally adjusted, the May figures were 0.2 percent higher than April’s unemployment rate of 7.1 percent.

State figures show 173,900 Islip Town residents employed in May 2011, with 12,700 residents currently out of work.

Islip’s May unemployment rate was slightly higher than Suffolk County. Labor department figures show the county’s unemployment rate at 6.9 percent, down form 7.2 percent in May 2010.

Despite the drop in unemployment levels at the town level, the rate of job growth overall as slowed.

Michael Crowell, a senior economist with the state labor department, said the slowdown in hiring seen in many municipalities across Long Island, including Islip, may be a bit of an anomaly because of the hiring of Census workers in the spring of 2010.

He also said the slowdown in hiring seen in May could stem from the continued uneasiness from business owners about the overall state of the economy and concerns about the possible impact the sharp rise in gas prices seen during the spring would have on consumer spending.

Statewide, the unemployment rate was 7.9 percent, down 0.7 percent from May 2010 when the jobless rate stood at 8.6 percent. New York’s unemployment rate was considerably lower that the nation’s jobless rate for May, which stands at 9.1 percent.

New York’s economy in May lost 21,200 private sector jobs.

According to the state, since the economic recovery started in November 2009, New York has regained 45 percent (148,700) of the private sector jobs lost during the recession of 2008-09.