In December 2012, New York State's economy added 34,300 private sector jobs, the State Department of Labor reported today. This addition brings the state’s overall year-to-date private sector job gain to 123,200. Additionally, this job growth resulted in New York reaching an all-time high private sector job count of 7,353,000.

Between November and December 2012, New York State’s unemployment rate fell from 8.3% to 8.2%. The rate in New York City remained unchanged at 8.8% in December, while the rate in the balance of state region (New York State outside of New York City) dropped over the month from 7.9% to 7.8%.

“The New York State economy closed out the year with 34,300 private sector jobs added in December and 123,200 added to the state’s economy in 2012. In addition, the state’s unemployment rate continued its downward trend in December,” said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Deputy Director of the Division of Research and Statistics.

Note: The data above are seasonally adjusted. Seasonally adjusted data provide the most valid month-to-month comparison. Non-seasonally adjusted data are valuable in year-to-year comparisons of the same month; for example, December 2011 versus December 2012.