State’s unemployment rate remains flat in May

Roughly 1,000 New Yorkers looking for work found something between April and May, though that was just a smidgen of the state’s unemployed.

For May, the state’s unemployment rate was 6.7 percent — the same as it was in April, but down considerably from May 2013’s 7.8 percent. According to the state Labor Department, the number of unemployed New Yorkers in May was 641,700. The state will put out unemployment data specifically about the Rochester area next week.

But according to the state, the Rochester region added roughly 3,900 private-sector jobs between May 2013 and May 2014.

The Rochester area did receive a larger seasonal boost than usual, according to Tammy Marino, associate economist with the Rochester office of the state Labor Department. Normally, 10,000 new positions open up in the Rochester area in March, April and May, “but this year’s uptick was much stronger than expected” with 12,000 jobs added.

The long winter may have delayed some hiring, she said, but now construction is going strong and leisure jobs such as bars and restaurants have been hiring as well. Manufacturing losses are slowing as well, Marino said.

The private sector job count is based on a payroll survey of New York employers. The unemployment rate comes from a monthly survey of New York households.