New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for New York fell 0.0 percentage points in December 2019 to 3.7%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.3 percentage points lower than the New York rate. The unemployment rate in New York peaked in November 2009 at 9.3% and is now 5.6 percentage points lower. From a post peak low of 3.6% in August 2019, the unemployment rate has now grown by 0.1 percentage points. You can also compare New York unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate	December 2019	Month/Month	Year/Year
National	3.5%	0.0	-0.4
New York	4.0%	0.0	+0.1
New York	3.7%	0.0	-0.1

Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.¹ All comparisons are made with December 2019 data as January metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: New York, New York, National

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

New York, New York Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in New York peaked in December 2009 at 906,811. There are now 538,433 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. From a recent trough of 358,731 in September 2019, the number of unemployed has now grown by 9,647. New York employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in New York, New York) is also available.

Unemployed Persons	December 2019	Month/Month	Year/Year
New York	368,378	+1,800	-12,309

Number of Unemployed Persons

New York, New York Unemployment History

Date	National Unemployment Rate	New York Unemployment Rate	New York Unemployment Rate	New York Unemployed
January 2020	3.6%	—	—	—
December 2019	3.5%	4.0%	3.7%	368,378
November 2019	3.5%	4.0%	3.7%	366,578
October 2019	3.6%	4.0%	3.7%	363,361
September 2019	3.5%	3.9%	3.6%	358,731
August 2019	3.7%	4.0%	3.6%	361,018
July 2019	3.7%	4.0%	3.7%	363,004
June 2019	3.7%	4.0%	3.7%	371,133
May 2019	3.6%	4.0%	3.8%	380,541
April 2019	3.6%	3.9%	3.8%	382,982
March 2019	3.8%	3.9%	3.9%	388,106
February 2019	3.8%	3.9%	3.9%	387,149