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On Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its monthly jobs report for September 2020.
Russell Weaver, an economic geographer with Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) Buffalo Co-Lab says the September 2020 jobs report is likely to show small gains, but New York state is still lagging behind the rest of the nation.
Russell Weaver
Director of Research, ILR Buffalo Co-Lab
“Because unemployment has already dropped by more than six percentage points since the height of the pandemic – when it peaked at 14.7% in April 2020 – some observers have been tempted to say that we are on track for a quick recovery. A relatively flat September 2020 jobs report should provide a much-needed reality check.
“Nowhere are these circumstances more apparent than in New York state, where the unemployment rate has been higher than nearly every other state, and where upticks in new COVID-19 cases have coincided with an upward trend in unemployment insurance claims.
“With New York’s unemployment rate already at four percentage points higher than the national average, news of relatively sticky unemployment levels and small jobs gains suggest that the Empire State will continue to be among the states hardest hit by the pandemic, thus putting it on one of the longer timetables for recovery.”
