The unemployment rate in Brooklyn hit 6% in April, when the most recent data is available, the state Department of Labor announced this week.
As a whole, New York State boasts a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.5%, as the state continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdowns that followed.
On a county level, Albany has the lowest unemployment rate at just 2.7%, while the Big Apple as a whole sits at 5.85%, with 3,717,700 employed New York City residents, compared to 228,000 laborers looking for a job.
Kings County’s 6% unemployment rate is the second-highest in the Five Boroughs, with only the Bronx seeing a higher rate at 8.3%. However, Brooklyn’s rate is far lower than the 11.1% of residents unemployed during April of 2021.
Manhattan has fared the best of the city’s boroughs since 2020 at 4.4%, while Staten Island comes in second-best at 5.2%. Queens sits in the middle of the pack at 5.5%.
The United States is doing better than Gotham City, as 3.6% of Americans were unemployed in April, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We have more work to do to ensure all New Yorkers can access family sustaining careers,” said Mayor Eric Adams at an unrelated press conference on Tuesday.
The unemployment rate considers New Yorkers who “were available for work, except for temporary illness, and had made specific efforts to find employment” during the four weeks prior to the surveyed time.
Unemployment and the virus
The statistics come as New York City has lifted most COVID-related restrictions, including Adams’ controversial decisions to lift the mask mandate in schools, and end the vaccine mandate for patrons at bars, restaurants, and other entertainment venues.
Because of the prevalence of at-home COVID-19 testing, health professionals have struggled to get an accurate reading on the spread of the contagious virus, but 9.26% of those who conducted PCR tests at government-sanctioned locations reported positive results — though New York City has been put on “high alert” due to a recent spike in infected city dwellers.
Meanwhile, an average of 60 people have been hospitalized each day over the past seven days, while five people have died each day, according to the New York City Department of Health. Both data points are considered “stable” or “decreasing,” the department said.
In the Big Apple, 87% of people have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 78% are fully inoculated. Still, just 38% of New York City residents have gotten a booster shot.
Brooklyn specifically has a 79% rate of vaccinated residents, while just 34% have received a booster dose.
