Now that we are in the full transition of the summer tourist season, the job market has gone through it’s seasonal upswing. New York State recently released it’s unemployment rate for May 2011. Some interesting facts come about in these surveys.
First let it be known that the New York State Department of Labor sends out surveys to 18,000 companies across the state. The statistics are based on current job openings and possible future growth of those companies which attempt to represent the total job market in New York State.
Here are some of the interesting facts, but first let me mention that these facts don’t take into account the seasonal jobs available. You won’t get a good idea of that until late November or early December of this year.
May 2011
National Unemployment rate: 8.7% Down from 9.3% May 2010
New York State Unemployment rate: 7.8% Down from 8.3% May 2010
Albany, Schenectady, Troy region Unemployment rate: 6.8% Down from 7.0% May 2010
Glens Falls Unemployment rate: 7.6% Up from 7.5% May 2010
Some may think it’s curious that the Glens Falls region is up while nearly every other region is down. Again let me mention that seasonal positions are not included in this survey and the Northern Glens Falls region is very reliant on it’s summer season.
Here’s another interesting tidbit: Saratoga County is the second best with an unemployment rate of 6.2%. Saratoga County of course has it’s seasonal positions but along with it’s strong manufacturing and small business aspects it does well in bucking the trends of New York State. Adding Global Foundries and it’s expansion projects will only add to the available jobs in the Saratoga County Market.
Over the course of the past month, I have seen a dramatic increase in open positions. Employers are even shifting from Part time positions to Full time. There is definately a change in the mentality of local employers. Now is a good time to be looking for work.
This leads to a shift in power between employers and employees. As unemployment rates drop, employees gain more power to play companies against eachother while looking for the perfect job position. I have watched this play out! But I give a fair warning. Companies may be opening up job positions, but are still looking for a highly qualified candidate! Companies can still be very particular in their employee search. This has caused some people with great opportunities to lose that job offer! Some of them are still searching!