The Real Deal: Seasonal jobs are back in New York - but who is filling them?

News 12's Kristie Reeter has The Real Deal when it comes to jobs in New York.

News 12 Staff

Jun 10, 2022, 10:54 AM

Updated 849 days ago

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With the summer here, some seasonal jobs are back - but who is filling them?
News 12's Kristie Reeter has The Real Deal when it comes to jobs in New York.
"Over the last year, we have added about 72,000 jobs in restaurants in New York City. Long Island has also been adding jobs in restaurants. Upstate, in Westchester there is some more employment growth in restaurants, but it is not as strong as it has been in the city and Long Island," says economist Martin Kohli, who works for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and focuses on jobs for the New York region.
While hiring is strong in the hospitality industry, News 12 partners at Investopedia explain it still is impacting the unemployment numbers.
"As of April, New York State's unemployment rate is 4.5%. That is the higher than the national average. But we have seen a nice turnaround. New York City still has that highest unemployment rate at 5.8%. When we look at Westchester, that is just 3%, Suffolk County 2.8%, and Nassau County just a 2.6%," says Caleb Silver, of Investopedia.
So who is hiring?
"In the city, we have seen a lot of job growth in computer programming. We have seen a lot of growth in health care aides." says Kohli. "On Long Island you are also seeing job growth in retail trade."
New York State Parks say they have numerous lifeguard vacancies they are working to fill. On Long Island, they plan to hire 500 lifeguards, and do not anticipate issues filling all positions.
Upstate and New York City state parks would also like to hire 500 lifeguards, so far though, they have identified more than 300 candidates.