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Job market is looking up in Nassau County

Unemployment rates down on Long Island; Lynbrook hosts job fair

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There’s some good news for those looking for work. Unemployment rates have dropped over the past year, according to statistics released by the New York State Department of Labor.

Between September 2013 and September 2014, all areas of New York saw declines, including a 2.4 percentage-point slide from 8.5 to 6.1 percent in New York City and a reduction from 5.9 to 4.8 percent in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Last week, after he toured an Oct. 21 job fair at the Lynbrook Public Library, Lynbrook Mayor Bill Hendrick said those numbers back up what he believes is a job market on the rise. “I think things are on their way back, especially here on Long Island,” Hendrick said. “We have a lot more job openings in both Nassau and Suffolk. [Employers] are looking for people to come and work for them.”

Nassau has the state’s seventh-lowest unemployment rate, at 4.7 percent. Hamilton County, in the Adirondacks, has the lowest rate, just 3.8 percent.

Kelcie Meehan, a Lynbrook resident and a 2014 graduate of Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., said she sees improvements in the job market. “I do think it’s getting better,” she said. “I have a full-time job as a content coordinator for a parent media group in Lynbrook. I studied communication, so it’s great to be in the field that I studied.”

Job fairs

Hendrick said the improvement can be felt at events like a recent job fair in Lynbrook, sponsored by Hendrick, Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilman Anthony Santino, and State Assemblyman Brian Curran. “We had plenty of people looking for jobs,” Hendrick said, “but we also had a lot of employers, and really a lot of employers in Nassau and Suffolk, that are looking for people to fill jobs. I really believe it’s starting to get better.”

John O’Connell, the Heralds’ executive editor, said he, too, is starting to see a change at these events. “There are certainly more employers and more jobs available at job fairs,” O’Connell said. “There are also more applicants, more people seeking jobs, so it’s still very competitive — but there are more companies hiring than in the past.”

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