Long Island is Adding Jobs – Slowly

The region is adding jobs, albeit slowly. But Long Island's labor marker still needs a boost.

Nassau County's unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent in August, down from 7 percent a year ago, the New York State Department of Labor reported Thursday.

In North Hempstead, the unemployment rate was at 6 percent in August, down from 6.1 percent in July. In August 2009, that rate was 6.4 percent.

In Port Washington, Luxotica Retail, The NPD Group, Inc and Pall Corporation all have have job postings on Indeed.com.

"Yes, we are hiring, especially in the areas of sales and client development," said a spokesperson for NPD.

"We have 11,300 more jobs that we did a year ago, an increase of 1.1 percent," said Gary Huth, regional analyst for the New York State Department of Labor. "It seems low, but that's the trend we've had from year to year. After a deep hole, we need to be stronger to get out of that hole."

"It's not where we want to be or need to be," he added. "And we've had some volatility in the numbers. Sometimes we revise the numbers at the end of the month."

Huth says the numbers are a reflection of stability in the overall labor market. 

"Sure, there are some problems. But the economy is more stable. The population is better educated and somewhat older [than elsewhere in the state]," he said. "This particular downturn has had more of an impact on white-collar workers and older workers, but they still tend to do better."

Affected sectors in Nassau – the financial services and professional and business services that include law firms, architectural firms, advertising – all seem to be turning around. While Huth doesn't have defined data at this level, he said "it appears that these groups are seeing significant improvement." 

What will it take for the local economy to bounce back? Innovation, Huth said.

He pointed to the health care sector, in which the North Shore-LIJ Health System and other hospitals are digitizing medical records. NS-LIJ is investing $400 million in this new initiative. And that's added 200 jobs for clinical analysts, IT infrastructure engineers, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, programmers, implementation specialists, trainers, project managers, program managers and others, said NS-LIJ spokesman Terry Lynam. 

"Modernization is very important for industry growth," Huth pointed out. "It's a very important concept for job seekers. Watch where the the opportunities are. Modify and adapt to changes, and look with a critical eye to make it work."