Each month, the Department of Labor (DOL) releases labor market information for NYS and the local regions. Here you will find the most up-to-date labor market information for the Hudson Valley, and more specifically, Rockland County.
In May 2021, New York State’s unemployment rate decreased from 8.2% to 7.8%. The comparable rate for the U.S. was 5.5% in May 2021.
Hudson Valley Region:
The May 2021 unemployment rate for the Orange-Rockland-Westchester Region is 4.7 percent. That is down from April 2021 (5.4 percent) and down significantly from May 2020 (12.4 percent). From March to April 2021, NYS saw job growth in all sectors except for information technology. The largest area of growth was seen in leisure and hospitality with more than 47,000 NEW job opportunities across NYS, 5,100 of them located within the Orange-Rockland-Westchester region.
In May 2021, the region as a whole saw a decrease in unemployment rates with Sullivan County recording the highest unemployment rate (5.1 percent) within the region.
- Putnam County 4.2 percent
- Ulster County 4.6 percent
- Rockland County 4.3 percent
- Dutchess County 4.4 percent
- Orange County 4.7 percent
- Westchester County 4.8 percent
- Sullivan County 5.1 percent
Rockland County Unemployment Rates:
| May 2021 | 4.3% |
| April 2021 | 5.0% |
| May 2020 | 12.3% |
With the end of extended unemployment looming around the corner, now is the time to start re-engaging with the workforce. There was job growth across all sectors in Rockland County and the surrounding areas. Orange-Rockland-Westchester region saw a 17.3 percent increase in jobs, the highest increase across all of NYS.