Sullivan County again leads area job gains

Employment totals rose in almost all area counties last month, with Sullivan again leading the pack by a huge margin as it continued to benefit from its nearly 2-year-old new casino.

Even though the casino, Resorts World Catskills, has been suffering financially as a company, it surely continues to be the main driver of Sullivan County’s nonfarm employment total surging by 11.8 percent from September 2018 to September 2019. The data was provided Thursday by the state Department of Labor. (The latest gains follow an August-to-August jump of 13.9 percent.)

The casino opened in February 2018, and the county’s job numbers have been rocketing upward ever since. Sullivan had 32,300 nonfarm jobs in September 2019, up from 28,900 a year earlier, the labor office said.

Nonfarm employment includes all positions in the private and public sectors, with the exception of those in agriculture.

In Ulster County, the nonfarm job total rose by 1,700, a solid 2.2 percent gain, in the September-toSeptember span to reach a total of 65,000, according to the labor statistics. The Dutchess-Putnam Metropolitan Division, which comprises all of both counties, gained 2,100 nonfarm jobs, an increase of 1.4 percent, during the same period to reach a total of 149,300.

Columbia County’s nonfarm job total in September 2019 was 22,600, a gain of 400, or 1.8 percent, from a year earlier. Greene County’s total last month was 15,500, a gain of 1.3 percent from the September 2018 total of 15,300.

Elsewhere in the region from September 2018 to September 2019, the labor office said:

• The Orange-RocklandWestchester Metropolitan Division added 5,400 nonfarm jobs, or 0.7 percent, to finish the period at 725,900.

• Delaware County’s nonfarm job total fell by 100, or 0.6 percent, to 15,800. (Delaware was the only local county that suffered September-to-September decline.)

In the private sector alone from September 2018 to September 2019, the department said:

• Ulster County added 1,700 jobs, or 3.5 percent. That was the second-highest percentage gain among the state’s 15 metropolitan areas. (The Ithaca area was tops, at 7.7 percent.)

• The Dutchess-Putnam Metropolitan Division gained 2,200 jobs, or 1.8 percent.

• The Orange-RocklandWestchester Metropolitan Division gained 5,300 jobs, or 0.9 percent.

The statewide unemployment rate in September was 3.9 percent, slightly better than the 4 percent rate of a month earlier but just higher than the 3.8 percent rate of September 2018.