City’s unemployment rate rises despite record number of jobs
The city’s unemployment rate rose to a four-month high in January despite the fact that the city continues to add private sector jobs at a rapid pace, according to State Labor Department data released on Thursday.
The city added 19,000 jobs in January, but the unemployment rate hit 9.1 percent, according to the reports. Private sector jobs in the city grew by 85,000 in 2012, bringing the total number of jobs in the city to a record 3.94 million, The New York Times reports.
The discrepancy between the high unemployment rate and job gains in the city has stumped some economists, but the continuous growth in jobs signals a strengthening economy.
Labor Department data released on Friday showed that the national unemployment rate fell to a four-year low of 7.7 percent with 236,000 jobs added in February.
