Good news for area job seekers;
Westchester’s economy will ring in 2007 with solid, if still moderate, growth in jobs, a fairly hot office market and a flat housing market that should improve in the new year, economists and professionals agreed.
“We will continue to experience moderate employment growth in the lower Hudson Valley, continued low rates of unemployment, and an expectation of a rebound in the housing market,” said Marc M. Goloven, retired senor regional economist with JP Morgan Chase. “2007 should be, I would argue, a very good year for Westchester County.”
With unemployment at 3.3 percent in October (the lowest October since 2000) and in the 3 percent range for much of 2006, Westchester accounts for the most activity in a seven-county Hudson Valley region where year-to-year job growth has hovered around 1 percent.
“There seems to be great optimism in the air among these job seekers as they anticipate a better overall job market,” said John Nelson, labor market analyst with the state Department of Labor.
Fastest-growing sectors in the region, he said, include construction (up 2,800 jobs), professional and business services (up 2,300 jobs), education and health services (up 1,400 jobs) and trade and transportation, which includes retail (up 1,300 jobs).
Across the board, smaller businesses are growing enough to seek working capital, financing for acquisitions, renovation and expansions term lending for equipment, and commercial mortgages. During 2006 through the end of November, new loan production in Westchester jumped 11 percent over 2005.
Source: Westchester Business Journal
