06/27/2021

New York and Other Northeast States See Large Drop in Unemployment

High vaccination rates, loosened restrictions are driving labor's improvements

The labor-market recovery picked up momentum this spring in the Northeast, with New York, Connecticut and other nearby states posting sizable drops in unemployment last month.

The jobless rate in Rhode Island decreased 0.5 percentage point in May to a seasonally adjusted 5.8 percent, matching the national average unemployment rate and matching Delaware for the biggest drop, according to Labor Department data. New York and Connecticut had the next largest decreases, 0.4 percentage point declines. The unemployment rate in New York was 7.8 percent and 7.7 percent in Connecticut.

High vaccination rates and the related loosening of restrictions are driving the labor market’s improvement in the Northeast, economists say. The latest data show a resurgence for a region whose economy was among the most battered when the coronavirus pandemic first took hold in the U.S. in March 2020.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Wall Street Journal.