The employment numbers for 2020 released by the New York State Department of Labor for the Hudson Valley region on March 11 were not surprising in the least, wi

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ALBANY—The employment numbers for 2020 released by the New York State Department of Labor for the Hudson Valley region on March 11 were not surprising in the least, with leisure and hospitality leading the way with job losses during the 12-month period, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, that exceeded 22,000 jobs.

However, job numbers released for January 2021 show that a jobs recovery is in progress.

Johny Nelson, Labor Market Analyst – Hudson Valley Region for the New York State Department of Labor reports that for the 12-month period ended January 2021, the private sector jobs count in the Hudson Valley fell by 76,200, or 9.6%, to 721,600.

Job losses occurred in leisure and hospitality (-22,400), educational and health services (-20,000), trade, transportation and utilities (-13,200), other services (-7,400), financial activities (-3,500), manufacturing (-3,100), professional and business services (-2,900), information (-2,000) and natural resources, mining, and construction (-1,700).

The January 2021 over-the-year job losses continue to reflect the weakness in the job market prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, Nelson noted in his report. At 721,600, private sector job count in the Hudson Valley region has reached its lowest January level since 2013. Job count in the region’s leisure and hospitality sector declined the fastest, down 25.6% over the period.

Within the region, the Kingston MSA’s private employment sector declined the fastest year-over-year, down 10.6%, followed by the Dutchess-Putnam MSA and Sullivan County—both falling at a 9.9% rate respectively, and the Orange-Rockland-Westchester labor market area, which was down 9.4% in total private sector jobs.

NYS Gained 29,400 Private Sector Jobs in January

According to preliminary figures released on March 11 by the New York State Department of Labor, the number of private sector jobs in New York State increased over the month by 29,400, or 0.4%, to 7,323,500 in January 2021. By comparison, the number of private sector jobs in the U.S. increased by less than 0.1% in January 2021. In addition, New York State’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased from 8.7% to 8.8% in January 2021.

New York City’s unemployment rate increased over the month from 12.0% to 12.6%. Outside of New York City, the unemployment rate decreased from 6.3% to 6.1%.

The number of unemployed New Yorkers increased over the month by 10,800, from 805,900 in December 2020 to 816,700 in January 2021.

The data released by the DOL indicated that during the January 2020 to January 2020 period, the Orange-Rockland-Westchester region lost 57,300 private sector jobs, a 9.4% reduction in its workforce, while New York City hemorrhaged 626,400 jobs, a 15.5% decline in its private-sector workforce.

During the 12-month period that included the rise of COVID-19 in March 2020, statewide the leisure and hospitality sector lost 364,600 jobs, trade, transportation and utilities suffered 163,2000 jobs lost, educational and health services lost 160,800 positions, the professional and business services sectors suffered 110,600 jobs lost. Other major job losers were: other services -78,900; government -63,500; manufacturing -35,700; construction -30,800; financial activities -30,500 and information -30,200.