Unemployment in Brookhaven Dips to 7.4 Percent in March

According to numbers released by New York State Department of Labor on Tuesday, the unemployment rate in the Town of Brookhaven slid to 7.4 percent in March, a half of a percent drop when compared to last year’s rate of 7.9 percent in the same month.

This marks the third month in a row in 2011 that the unemployment rate in Brookhaven has gone down. In February the unemployment rate went from 8.5 percent in February 2010 to 8.1 percent in the same month this year. January saw a slide from 8.5 percent last year to 8.3 percent this year.

Improvements in the month-to-month rate is due to seasonal pickup in hiring as the weather gets warmer, according to Jim Brown, a labor market analyst with the New York State Department of Labor.

“There was fairly significant job growth between February and March,” he said. “Especially in construction and leisure and hospitality.

Brown also noted that the construction industry made gains, saying about about 2,600 jobs were added.

New York State’s unemployment rate as a whole saw another dramatic decrease, dropping more than one percentage point from 9.1 percent in 2010 to 8.0 percent this March. Last month the unemployment rate went from 9.5 percent in 2010 to 8.7 percent in 2011.

The Long Island region saw a drop from 7.8 percent last year to 7.1 percent in March this year.

According to Brown, a big mover in the job market overall is the health care sector.

“Year over year, we’ve seen significant gains in healthcare, social services sector, and wholesale/resale trade,” he said. “Healthcare is usually a steady performer that serves the needs of the local population.”

Brown said that although Long Island has seen a good rate of growth in the job market that in turn pushes the unemployment rate down, the market may have to account for an influx of job seekers getting back into the game as things show signs of improvement.

Surrounding townships also saw a drop in the unemployment rate in differing amounts. One of the biggest was in Islip where the rate dropped by 0.7 from 8.5 percent in March 2010 to 7.8 percent this year. One of the smallest came in Riverhead where the unemployment rate went from 8.8 percent to 8.7 percent moving a mere 0.1.

Southampton continues to see higher than average unemployment for the region at 9.3 percent, a difference of only 0.2 from 2010’s rate of 9.5 percent. Smithtown’s unemployment rate is the lowest around, dipping a half of a percentage point to 6 percent in March when comparing year over year.

Brown noted that all this improvement might mean that there’s a bit of hope ahead for the economy.

“Generally through spring you get improvement in many of the same sectors in May as you did in April,” he said. “Leisure employment is often a sign of an improving economy.”

Regional Unemployment Rates

Region

March 2011

March 2010

Difference

Brookhaven

7.4%

7.9%

-0.5

Riverhead

8.7%

8.8%

-0.1

Islip

7.8%

8.5%

-0.7

Southampton

9.3%

9.5%

-0.2

Smithtown

6.0%

6.5%

-0.5

Suffolk County

7.5%

8.1%

-0.6

Long Island

7.1%

7.8%

-0.7

New York State

8.0%

9.1%

-1.1

 Source: New York State Department of Labor.