Some 3,000 jobs blew out of New York city in October as Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the tri-state.
In analysis of data released from the New York State Department of Labor that was seasonally adjusted, real estate services firm Eastern Consolidated found that the private sector lost 5,700 jobs, but the public sector added 2,800 jobs most of which were city government jobs.
“Judging by the September and October data, the frequency of end-of-year declines in employment and of course the impact from Hurricane Sandy, it seems very unlikely that New York City will break any record for highest job growth this year as it had indicated through the summer months,ˮ noted the firm’s chief economist Barbara Byrne Denham.
None of the losses in October can be attributed to Hurricane Sandy as the data collected for the state report was done so during the week of the 12.
The retail industry lost the most jobs in October, shedding 1,900 jobs in the month.
Denham predicted retail employment will likely be the biggest casualty of the storm as numerous stores along the waterfront were destroyed and hundreds more were severely damaged.
Another industry that incurred a loss last month was employment services that lost 1,700 jobs in October after adding more than 13,000 jobs in the previous nine months.
Temporary employment could jump in November due to the effects of the storm, although it could also decline for those businesses that were displaced.
The only other industries that had a loss were social services (-1,300 jobs), wholesale trade (-1,400) and real estate (-1,100).
The construction industry added 1,500 jobs in October and now posts a net gain for the year (+600 jobs).
Construction is expected to add jobs in the next two or more months to help with the re-building effort.
