January Brings Higher Unemployment To Long Island

LONG ISLAND, NY — Long Island's unemployment rate jumped nearly a full percentage point as 2021 began, showing the pandemic is still taking an economic toll on the area.

The unemployment rate in January was 6.4 percent, according to data from the state Department of Labor. That is up from December, when the rate was 5.8 percent. November and December had the lowest rates of unemployment in the area since the pandemic began, both at 5.8 percent.

The January numbers were slightly better in Nassau than Suffolk. Nassau's unemployment was at 6.3 percent while Suffolk was at 6.4 percent. That equates to 43,400 people out of work in Nassau and 48,400 in Suffolk.

As recovery from the coronavirus pandemic continues, unemployment has fallen. In April, unemployment on Long Island reached 16.1 percent, or 229,300 people without jobs — the worst unemployment rate on record. But the current rate is still well above January 2020, when unemployment was at 3.8 percent for Long Island. In March, before the closures began in earnest, unemployment was at 3.8 percent. July was the second-highest month of unemployment ever at 13.8 percent.

September was the first month since the pandemic began when Long Island's unemployment was finally lower than the Great Recession that began in 2008, when it topped out at 8.2 percent in early 2010, according to statistics from the Department of Labor.

New York City is still the hardest-hit area in the state, with an unemployment rate of 13.1 percent in January — which is 503,000 people out of work. That's down from the June high point of 20.4 percent, but higher than December, when the unemployment rate was 11.6 percent.

Statewide, the unemployment rate in January was 9.4 percent, which equates to 864,000 people out of work. That's also a steep increase from December, when the statewide unemployment rate was 8.5 percent.

According to the state, the unemployment numbers come from a survey of 18,000 businesses in New York, which does not include self-employed workers, agricultural workers, unpaid family workers and domestic workers employed by private households.