The unemployment rate for New York state stands at 6.7 percent, slightly above the 6.3 percent rate for the nation.
In contrast, New York City’s unemployment rate stands at 7.9 percent — far higher than the US average. Which would suggest our state is doing much better on jobs than our city.
In fact, it’s a reminder that unemployment rates these days hide more than they reveal. It’s a problem of division: When people stop looking for work, they are no longer counted as unemployed.
As a result, the unemployment rate shrinks.
We have pretty good evidence that people are giving up.
The latest is a new survey of unemployed Americans by Express Employment Professionals. Forty-seven percent agreed with the statement, “I’ve completely given up on looking for a job.”
If this is the reason the state’s unemployment rate looks better than the city’s, that’s nothing to cheer about. It simply means the state has more out-of-work people who are utterly demoralized.
This week, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, William Dudley, suggested this is why recent declines in the national unemployment rate are probably exaggerated.
Dudley drew a contrast with the city: “As of April,” he said, “almost five years since the end of the recession, the nation has recovered nearly all of the jobs that were lost. By contrast, New York city reached this milestone more than two years ago.”
All in all, a timely reminder in an election year not to rely on misleading unemployment stats when we are told our state is back in business.