Southampton Unemployment Flat, Again, in June

For the third month in a row, the unemployment rate in Southampton Town stayed on par with 2010 numbers.

Though still almost double the 3.3 percent unemployment rate recorded in June 2007, last month's jobless rate of 6.5 percent fell well below the county and state rates of 7.3 and 8 percent, respectively.

Fewer Suffolk residents, and a higher percentage -- albeit a slight tenth of a percent -- were unemployed in June. Nassau and Suffolk combined to stay steady at 7.1 percent unemployment, a trend one labor economist found discouraging. 

"This is the second time in the past year that the unemployment rate has not gotten lower," said Michael Crowell, with the New York Department of Labor, pointing to numbers across from Long Island. 

"If you look at the job numbers, there were three months in the beginning of the year when we added more than 10,000 jobs," Crowell said. "It looked like a recovery was right around the corner, but in June not only did we not add jobs but we ended up losing private sector jobs for the first time in a year."

Long Island lost 1,400 private jobs year-over-year. However, across Long Island, amusement, gambling and recreational industries were up 6 percent over last year, perhaps a sign that Southampton's seasonal economy is on the rebound.

In Southampton, as well as in other local towns and on higher levels, the total civilian workforce decreased. 

Crowell pointed to the Green Jobs Bill, an effort he hopes will help spur job growth, which would aid in the creation of jobs in the environmental sectors by making on-bill financing possible for energy efficient home improvements.

With on-bill financing, those that have added energy efficient improvements on their homes will still pay the same electric bill, but the savings resulting from the improvements goes directly to paying off the loan. The hope is that this will encourage more people to install solar panels and other energy efficient technologies and thus, create more green jobs.

Rich Arleo contributed to this article.