NYS Unemployment Continues to Fall in City

NYS Unemployment Continues to Fall in City. The city’s unemployment rate has declined steadily since it peaked at 10.5 percent a year ago. The unemployment rate for New York City edged down again in November to 9.1 percent. It is now significantly lower than the national unemployment rate of 9.8 from the 9.6 of October. According to James Brown, the principal economist for the New York State Department of Labor, The number of private sector jobs in the city has increased by 1.6 percent in the last year, compared with just 1 percent for the country.

US. President Barack Obama signed the tax cut bill into law on December 17, 2010. The measure will extend all the Bush income tax cuts for two years and cut the payroll tax from 6.2% to 4.2%. The measure also extends unemployment benefits for an additional 13 months. It's welcome news to the unemployed, who have bombarded the New York State Department of Labor with an important question: when will they get their checks? According to Labor Commissioner Colleen Gardner, who says the money will be distributed by the middle of next week, and a majority of people will receive two weeks worth of benefits so it won't take too long.

In November 2010, New York City added 14,000 jobs, with much percentage of the hiring came from employment agencies, on Wall Street and in accounting and other business services. That gain was smaller than the average for the last 10 Novembers, but it continued a positive trend, New York State Department of Labor Principal Economist James Brown said.