Long Island Unemployment Remains Steady In December

LONG ISLAND, NY — Long Island's unemployment levels held steady from November to December of 2020, even as the pandemic reached new heights in the area.

According to data released by the state Department of Labor, the unemployment rate for Long Island in December was 5.5 percent — barely changed from November's 5.4 percent. November was the lowest level of unemployment the area had seen since the pandemic began.

In December, both Nassau and Suffolk counties each had an unemployment rate of 5.5. percent. That equates to 38,000 people without jobs in Nassau and 41,200 in Suffolk.

As recovery from the coronavirus pandemic continues, unemployment continues to fall. 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 December 2019, when unemployment was at 3.6 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.

October was the first month this year 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 11 percent in December — which is 418,000 people out of work. That's down from the June high point of 20.4 percent.

Statewide, the unemployment rate in December was 8.1 percent, which equates to 733,200 people out of work — the same as it was in November.

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.