New York saw record job additions in October

Monthly job additions in New York State rose sharply in October, hitting a five-year high.

The State saw an addition of 40,500 private-sector jobs in October, the highest since April 2005, the State Labor Department said last week.

Most of the jobs were added in New York City, where employment rose twice the rate of the nation as a whole.

October gain in jobs helped the New York City’s unemployment rate down to 9.2 percent, the lowest level since May 2009. However, the state unemployment rate was steady at 8.3 percent.

While the City added 55,400 private-sector jobs in October year-on-year, employment in government agencies declined by 13,800.

Government jobs in the City are expected to decrease further following budget cuts that would eliminate 2,100 jobs this year and 8,200 in the next fiscal year.

The City could axe as many as 6,000 teachers working in its public schools and slash its budget by $350 million as part of belt tightening, said an employment consultancy, EmploymentCrossing, in a release on Monday.

The labor department said that October rise in employment was due to new jobs coming from professional and business services, like accounting and advertising, and in lower-paying fields like education and health care, while the Wall Street hiring was gradually picking up.

Education, Health Care and Travel & Leisure were the categories which saw big job losses in September, while financial services gained 2,400 jobs in the month.

However, the state still had about 800,000 unemployed people and 527,000 people were collecting unemployment benefits.

Overall, the U.S. nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in October, the biggest monthly gain since April. The unemployment rate in the US remained constant at 9.6 percent for the third month in October.