Unemployment rates down, job numbers up in Westchester, Rockland

Westchester and Rockland counties saw a job growth rate of 4.5% from July 2021 to July 2022.

Putnam County saw a smaller increase, of 1.8%.

But all three counties, along with the rest of southeastern New York, are continuing to be regarded as a job seekers' market, despite a slight uptick in unemployment between June and July.

Unemployment rates, which soared during the shutdowns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, have now mostly returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Over the past year, from July 2021 to July 2022, the leisure and hospitality industry, which was hard hit by the pandemic shutdown, has gained 8,800 jobs in the region, followed by 8,200 business and professional services jobs, and then 6,000 new jobs in education and health services, according to the state Labor Department.

Efforts are continuing to bring job seekers to the jobs, even as some people continue to be hesitant about returning to an in-office setting.

The Westchester-Putnam Workforce Development Board recently announced the formation of its new Career Center Workforce Team, which will aim to help job seekers and employers connect more efficiently. The group consists of a similar previous team, with employment counselors now added to the mix.

One of its goals will be to assist employers in identifying both new hires and current employees who qualify for programs like On-the-Job Training or Customized Incumbent Worker Training, both of which can reduce the employer's cost to train workers.

Kelly Soldano, vice president and chief of human resources operations for Westchester Medical Center Health Network, said health care services in the region have attracted a steady number of job applicants, even during and since the pandemic.

"Job seekers are looking for stability," Soldano said, and they find that in the health care industry.

To help retain those workers, they are offered lots of training, and their benefits packages have been increased, Soldano said.

"Westchester Medical Center Network has continued to grow, and offer a lot of new services in the region," Soldano said.

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Those include a new pediatric wing with its own emergency room that launched at Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie in 2020, and major expansions of Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, and the Mary's Avenue campus of HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston. And all those mean more jobs.

Meanwhile, in late August, as the new school year approached, school districts in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties still had a list of more than 600 jobs to fill. But a check of the online listings showed those numbers slowly shrinking day by day.

Those jobs covered every level from top administrative posts in some districts, down to others who were only looking for a few maintenance people or lunch monitors.

Brian Howard, a spokesman for Southern Westchester BOCES, said the number of job offerings was "fairly typical for this time of year."

During the past two years, the Lower Hudson Valley has had more school job postings than any other region in the state, except for Long Island, according to statistics provided by Ellen Lane, a spokeswoman for Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES. In 2021-22, it was tied with the Capital region.

The Mount Vernon School District, which still had 60 jobs listed on one day in late August, was a good example of the range of jobs available in the region's educational field.

They were looking for a high school principal and four assistant principals for schools in the district, along with more than 25 teachers, four registered nurses, three library and media specialists, two teaching assistants and two counselors. But they also were looking for help on the maintenance staff, security, cleaners and typists, among others.

Many districts were looking for teacher aides.

"Teacher aides are always in demand, but I don't think that's unique compared to any other district in the region," Howard said.

There also were a number of jobs in higher education.

SUNY Westchester Community College recently was advertising for more than 50 adjunct positions for its teaching faculty as well as a few administrative posts. They also were offering dozens of hourly and part-time positions, for everything from library clerk to maintenance workers to a peer tutor for Valhalla and the Extension Center.

Pace University had nearly 200 openings, ranging from an associate project director for their Nursing Workforce Diversity Program, and a residence director – which the listing noted was a 12-month position requiring the person who fills the job to live on campus – down to lifeguards for their aquatic facility.

They offered a handful of full-time faculty positions, as well as a large number of part-time and adjunct positions.

Five of the other six job sectors recognized by the state Labor Department saw smaller gains in the number of jobs being offered from July of 2021 to July of 2022 in the region.

Natural resources, mining and construction added 2,800 jobs; trade, transportation and utilities added 2,500 jobs; manufacturing added 700 jobs and information services added 500 jobs during the period. A miscellaneous category labeled "other services" added 4,000 jobs from July 2021 to July 2022.

The only sector to show a decline was financial activities, which lost 1,400 jobs.

The counties in the Lower Hudson Valley all had unemployment rates below 4% in July, although each county's rate rose between two-tenths and four-tenths of a percentage point compared to June.

The Labor Department said Westchester County's unemployment rate was 3.5%, down from 5.1% in July 2021. Rockland County had a 3.2% unemployment rate, down from 4.7% in July 2021. And Putnam County had a 3.2% unemployment rate, down from 4.4% in July 2021.

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, the Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @MikeRandall845.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Job market favors those seeking employment in Lower Hudson Valley