Business & Tech

Smithtown Unemployment Inches Higher, While Huntington's Slides

Unemployment rate increased in December 2010 from December 2009 for Smithtown, but decreased for Huntington.

The unemployment rate in the Town of Smithtown jumped slightly in December 2010 to 6.2 percent, compared to 6.1 percent in December 2009, while the Town of Huntington's jobless rate slid in December 2010 to 6.2 percent compared to 6.3 percent in December 2009, the New York State Department of Labor announced Thursday.

Both towns' unemployment rate for December fell below the New York State rate of 8 percent, the Suffolk County rate of 7.3 percent and the Long Island rate of 7 percent.

While the unemployment in the Towns of Smithtown and Huntington is amongst the lowest on the island, Senior Economist for the New York State Department of Labor Michael Crowell described the overall unemployment rate on Long Island as “discouraging.”

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“The fact that it’s still so persistently high, I would say is discouraging news – the 7 percent in December 2010 is the same as last year, but also the highest we’ve had in December going back to 1990 when we started this series,” Crowell said.

Although the unemployment rates showed a slight increase in Smithtown and a slight decrease in Huntington, the labor forces in both towns remained virtually the same. In both December 2010 and December 2009 the Town of Smithtown had a labor force of 61,900, while the Town of Huntington labor force decreased by approximately 300, from 104,875 in December 2009 to  104,549 in December 2010.

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The Town of Smithtown experienced a .1 percent decrease in the December 2010 unemployment rate from , while the Town of Huntington experienced a in the same time frame.

Both towns' rates are among the lowest on Long Island, bested only by the Village of Rockville Centre at 5.7 percent and the Town of North Hempstead at 6 percent.

Crowell said the job market has not seen the turnaround needed in the post-recession era.

“I’m not very optimistic about the jobs picture,” he said. [The] recession’s been officially over for more than a year, but we just don’t seem to be seeing a lot of job growth and the number of long-term unemployed doesn't seem to be going down.”

Laura Glasser contributed to this article.


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