NEW YORK — For the month of August, the number of new jobs added in New York State was higher than the national average, according to a reported released by New York State Department of Labor.
Preliminary figures released on Thursday by NYSDOL show 28,000 jobs were added last month. That is a 0.4% increase, higher than the 0.2% national average.
The statewide unemployment rate decreased from 7.6% to 7.4% according to the NYSDOL report.
The number of jobs added is based on a payroll survey of 18,000 businesses. These reports are preliminary and can change once more information becomes available the next month, NYSDOL says.
At the same time, we should see more public sector hiring soon.
Gov. Kathy Hochul lifted the hiring freeze that's been in place for state agencies throughout the COVID pandemic. It also lets pay raises for some 80,000 government workers go through.
Until this point, agencies could hire, but only if they got a waiver from the budget division for some critical exceptions.