NYC Jobless Rate Climbs to 10%, Highest Since February 2010

New York City’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped to 10 percent in June, matching a post- recession peak reached in the six months through February 2010, the state Labor Department said.

The rate climbed from 9.7 percent in May, even as the city’s private employers added about 11,500 jobs, James Brown, a labor department economist, said today in an e-mail. The rate is up from 8.9 percent a year ago.

A growing city labor force over the past 12 months helped push up the unemployment rate, which is an estimated ratio of the people not working as a percentage of the total seeking employment, the department said.

“Despite strong job creation by New York City’s businesses, the number of city residents with jobs is essentially flat over the prior 12 months,” Brown said.

The department recorded gains in professional, scientific and technical services, and retail. Industries that showed weakness include construction and wholesale trade, and leisure and hospitality, which usually shows gains in June, Brown said.

The city came through the recession better than the rest of the U.S. and has more private-industry jobs now than ever, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in response to the report.

“As fast as New York City is creating jobs, people are entering the labor market even faster, which indicates optimism and confidence” in the city’s future, Bloomberg said in a statement. “We will not be satisfied until everyone who is searching for work finds it.”

For New York state, June’s jobless rate was 8.9 percent, up from 8.6 percent in May, while the U.S. rate stood at 8.2 percent, the department said.

The mayor is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent company Bloomberg LP.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.net