Southampton Unemployment Rate Holds

Southampton's unemployment rate of 7.6 percent in April was on par with last year, according to data released on Tuesday by the New York State Department of Labor.

Of the 30,984-strong labor force in Southampton Town, 28,624 were employed as of April and 2,360 were unemployed.

Michael Crowell, a labor market analyst with the department of labor, said the status quo was positive -- at least things haven't gotten worse. 

"The pattern is pretty much the same in the local towns as it is in the region, which is on Long Island as a whole," he said. "We had a year where the unemployment rate hasn't risen. So that's a positive development in the economy."

Suffolk County and New York State reported jobless rates of 6.9 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively -- both the lowest figures for each since April 2009.

According to statistics from the past ten years, unemployment in Southampton typically drops in April when businesses prepare for the summer. With that, unemployment numbers to tend to increase from November through March.  

Southampton's month-over-month unemployment rate dropped from 9.3 percent to 7.6 percent, though data shows that jobs were actually lost, and Southampton's labor pool dropped by about 500.

Southampton Town has the highest unemployment rate of any town in Suffolk County for which statistics are taken. Towns with populations of 25,000 or more are taken, leaving Southold and Shelter Island unmeasured.