Local unemployment rates improve but remain above pre-COVID levels

County unemployment rates in the Mid-Hudson Valley and Catskills improved from October to November, according to data provided Tuesday by the state Department of Labor, but they still remained above year-ago levels, before the COVID-19 pandemic started dragging down the economy.

The November unemployment rate in Ulster County was 5%, down from 5.8% in October and far below the April peak of 14.6%, according to the labor department.

Dutchess County also had a 5% jobless rate last month, down from 5.8% in October and the April peak of 14.1%, the department reported.

In November 2019, well before the pandemic hit, Ulster and Dutchess had unemployment rates of 3.5% and 3.4%, respectively.

A lower unemployment rate doesn’t necessarily mean fewer people are out of work, though, because jobless individuals stop being included in the unemployment tally once their government aid runs out.

Elsewhere in the Mid

Hudson and Catskills, according to the labor department, jobless rates in November 2020 were:

• 4.6% in Greene County, down from 6.3% in October and the April peak of 14.8%. Greene’s jobless rate in November 2019 was 4.3%.

• 4% in Columbia County, up from 4.5% a month earlier and 2.9% a year earlier. Columbia was tied with Tompkins County (the Ithaca area) for the lowest unemployment rate in the state last month.

• 5.4% in Orange County, down from 6.4% in October 2020 and 3.7% in November 2019.

• 5.8% in Sullivan County, down from 6.6% a month earlier and 3.9% a year earlier.

• 4.7% in Delaware County, compared to 4.8% in October 2020 and 4.3% in October 2019.

The highest jobless rate in the state last month was 16% in the Bronx. New York City as a whole had a November unemployment rate of 11.8%.

For local stories related to the coronavirus, go to bit. ly/DFCOVID19.