ALBANY – The January 2022 unemployment rate in the Hudson Valley region was 3.6 percent, up from 2.8 percent in December 2021 and down from 6.1 percent in January 2021, the State Labor Department reported on Tuesday.
Adam Bosch, president of think-tank Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, said the new low rate may be a factor of new hiring. The low rate in December was the result of holiday jobs and people returning to the workforce.
Long-term, he said the issue of training people for the right job needs of the business community should be addressed.
“That is something we should take a long-term look at and understand whether there are people out there who would benefit from retraining, whether we are getting to our high school students and talking to them about the full range of jobs that exist in our communities so that we are making sure the workforce is well-aligned with the needs employers across the region,” he said.
In January, Columbia County had the lowest rate of joblessness in the region at 3.2 percent. That was followed by Putnam and Rockland counties at 3.3 percent. Dutchess had 3.5 percent unemployment followed by Orange, Ulster and Westchester, each at 3.7 percent, Greene County at 4.0 percent and Sullivan County at 4.1 percent.
| COUNTY | JANUARY 2022 | DECEMBER 2021 | JANUARY 2021 |
| Columbia | 3.2% | 2.3% | 5.2% |
| Dutchess | 3.5% | 2.7% | 5.7% |
| Greene | 4.0% | 3.1% | 6.3% |
| Orange | 3.7% | 2.9% | 6.2% |
| Putnam | 3.3% | 2.5% | 5.4% |
| Rockland | 3.3% | 2.6% | 5.7% |
| Sullivan | 4.1% | 3.1% | 6.5% |
| Ulster | 3.7% | 2.6% | 6.3% |
| Westchester | 3.7% | 2.9% | 6.2% |
