Town Unemployment Rate Slowly Drops

The unemployment rate in the Town of Hempstead saw a slight decline between the months of November and December of 2010, dropping from 7.3 percent to 7 percent, according to statistics released on Thursday by the state's Department of Labor.

Statistics show that roughly 1,110 less residents were unemployed in December of 2010 in comparison to November of that year. When comparing December 2009 stats to last December's numbers, unemployment in the town dropped slightly in the 12-month span, from 7.1 to 7 percent.

Nassau County also saw a small decline in unemployment, falling from 6.9 percent to 6.7 — a little less than 2,000 residents gained employment from November to December of 2010. When compared to county statistics from December 2009, unemployment rates actually stayed the same at 6.7 percent.

president Christopher Brown said he was encouraged by the unemployment drop but emphasized that there are still far too many people out of work. "What concerns me is the many people out there that are still looking for work," said Brown.

Michael Crowell, a senior economist for the state labor department, noted that Long Island has fared better when compared to state and national unemployment rates. "The data lists the local unemployment rate at 7 percent, the state rate at 8 percent, and the national rate at 9.1 percent," he said.

He added though, that local numbers have basically remained the same. "The thing that jumped out is that the 2010 and 2009 tied for the highest unemployment rate in December in this data series, which started in 1990." Asked why, Crowell said, "The recession is the short answer."

Crowell noted that in 2009, Long Island lost 40,000 jobs over the year. Now there are gains in the private sector.

"Just as that's happening, government is losing jobs, putting a damper on the gains made in the private sector," he said. "Those job losses are mainly in the local school districts. We lost 4,500 jobs in government as a whole compared to the year prior." The cuts, he said, were "due largely to cuts in state aid."

According to the latest data, job gains were made in state government education – state universities and colleges and community colleges, where jobs jumped 13.2 percent, and food services and drinking places, up 7.5 percent.