Smithtown Unemployment Falls in August

Smithtown's unemployment rate dropped to 6.3 percent in August, continuing a slow but steady improvement in the local job market.

That's compared to a local jobless rate in July of 6.5 percent, according to the New York State Department of Labor, and 6.6 percent in August 2009.

The dip in August marks the fourth month the Smithtown unemployment rate has fallen year-over-year, a sign that more unemployed workers are finding jobs.

"The job market has been improving more gradually than we would like, but it has been improving," said Gary Huth, Long Island economist for the state labor department.

Smithtown historically trails the Island as a whole, Suffolk County and many of the larger local towns in terms of unemployment rates, and last month was no different.

Long Island's jobless rate was 7 percent in August, down from 7.2 percent the month before, and in Suffolk County, 7.2 percent of residents were out of work last month.

Lindenhurst Village posted the highest jobless rate in the county in August at 8.2 percent, followed closely by Babylon, with 8 percent of residents out of work.

Huth said the makeup of a town's workforce has a big impact on jobless rates and the rates are based on where employees live, not where they work.

"The more education in the area, the lower your unemployment rate generally is," he said, adding a good diversification of jobs and skill levels can also help pull a jobless rate down.

The Island as a whole added 11,300 private-sector jobs during the 12 months ending in August, according to the labor department.

"We got off to a fairly strong start early in the year and it's moderated some, but we're still showing growth," Huth said, adding that in August of last year, the Island was still losing jobs.

But uncertainty from employers is still moderating growth and preventing any real return to a pre-recession job market, when the Smithtown unemployment rate was around 4.5 percent.

"People were so scared that they laid off more than they needed to," Huth said. "But now that they see things getting better, they're still very reluctant to hire, and in some cases they have more productivity so they don't need to."