County
July 2015
July 2014
Net change
State rank
Columbia
4.1 %
4.5 %
-0.4 %
2
Putnam
4.8 %
5.2 %
-0.4 %
11
Dutchess
4.9 %
5.5 %
-0.6 %
14
Orange
5.1 %
5.7 %
-0.6 %
19
Rockland
5.1 %
5.4 %
-0.3 %
19
Sullivan
5.3 %
6.0 %
-0.7 %
27
Ulster
5.3 %
5.9 %
-0.6 %
27
Greene
5.6 %
6.4 %
-0.8 %
36
ALBANY – Columbia County ranked the lowest in terms of unemployment in July in the Hudson Valley region, the state Labor Department reported Tuesday.
With a 4.1 percent rate of joblessness, Columbia beat out Putnam County, with 4.8 percent and Dutchess County with 4.9 percent.
Westchester County followed with a 5.0 percent rate of unemployment. Orange and Rockland counties each had 5.1 percent joblessness with Ulster and Sullivan counties each had 5.3 percent joblessness.
Greene County, with 5.6 percent, had the highest rate in the region.
Labor department analyst John Nelson said the economy is looking up.
“I think what we are seeing here in today’s job market, we are seeing some very encouraging signs,” Nelson said. “The fact that the unemployment rate numbers are dropping and you tie to it that the labor force is increasing, so this is very good news for the folks in the Hudson Valley region.”
The July 2015 unemployment rate for the Hudson Valley Region is 5.0 percent.
That is up from 4.7 percent in June and down from 5.5 percent in July
of last year. This July, there were 57,500 unemployed in the region,
up from 52,800 in June 2015 and down from 62,400 in July 2014.
