By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN – New York City’s unemployment rate dropped slightly in January 2010 from 10.5 percent to 10.4 percent, but remains well above the New York State average of 8.8 percent for the same month, according to the New York State Department of Labor.
This one-tenth of a percent decrease also leaves the unemployment rate significantly higher the national unemployment rate, which dropped from 10 percent in December to 9.7 percent in January.
Excluding the New York City metropolitan area, New York State’s unemployment rate is as low as 7.7 percent.
The number of private sector jobs in the State increased by 30,500, or 0.4 percent, to 6,991,100 in January, as well.
The financial services in New York State lost 30,000 jobs over the year. More than one-half of the losses in this sector occurred in the securities and commodity contracts industry, the NYS Labor Department reported.
