Full Employment
Month over Month Yearly Trend in Local Area Employment Statistics
Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY
US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics
Data Extracted February 3, 2012
| Year | Period | Labor force | Employment | Unemployment | Unemployment rate |
| 2006 | Jul | 333,761 | 318,993 | 14,768 | 4.4 |
| 2006 | Dec | 325,545 | 313,834 | 11,711 | 3.6 |
| 2007 | Dec | 325,606 | 311,562 | 14,044 | 4.3 |
| 2008 | Dec | 325,923 | 306,036 | 19,887 | 6.1 |
| 2009 | Dec | 320,577 | 294,963 | 25,614 | 8.0 |
| 2010 | Dec | 318,799 | 294,549 | 24,250 | 7.6 |
| 2011 | Dec | 315,889(P) | 292,776(P) | 23,113(P) | 7.3(P) |
| P : Preliminary |
The Unemployment Rate is a nearly meaningless indicator of the health of our regional economy. Workers dropping out of the statistics paint a false picture of improvement.
Measuring the Employment Rate is a slightly better, but also incomplete measure. We also need to know about the quality and the wage, salary and benefit levels those jobs pay.
To improve our Regional Economic Health, we must first be honest with where we are. Only then, can we, work to reverse the declining trend line shown above.