Is the economy improving in New York?

A statement from New York State Chief Economist STEPHEN KAGAN

The latest job figures indicate that New York City may be showing early signs of economic improvement, while the suburbs and upstate continue to outperform the rest of the country during the national downturn.

In May, statewide private employment was down 122,000 or 1.7 percent from May 2001; national private employment was down 1.6 percent. The suburban counties gained 0.1 percent, upstate was down 0.8 percent and the city lost 3.3 percent.

New York City private sector job losses were 104,600 or 3.3 percent. This marks an improvement from February, when New York City was down 134,200 jobs, or 4.3 percent, from a year earlier. Suburban private jobs were up 2,200 or 0.1. In December 2001, private employment was down 7,900 jobs or 0.5 percent.

In May, upstate private jobs were down 19,400 or 0.8 percent; the national decline was 1.6 percent. Upstate losses are concentrated in manufacturing. Upstate manufacturing declined 5.7 percent; the nation shed 6.0 percent. Non-manufacturing jobs are keeping upstate ahead of the nation in this recession: up 0.3 percent in upstate and down 0.7 percent in the nation.

Job performance varies across upstate regions. As a whole, if counted as a separate state, upstate New York would have ranked 21st in private job growth over the first four months of 2002 compared with the first four months of 2001.