NYS Department of Labor stats showing payroll employment and unemployment both increasing - what does this mean?
I was looking at the latest NYS Department of Labor employment data for my economics class and noticed something confusing. The report shows that both payroll employment AND unemployment numbers went up in the same month. How is this even possible? Shouldn't one go up when the other goes down? I'm trying to understand what this means for people like me who might need to file for unemployment benefits soon. Does this affect how easy it is to get approved or find work?
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Isaiah Sanders
This actually happens more often than you'd think! It means the labor force (total number of people working or actively looking for work) expanded faster than the number of jobs created. So more people entered the job market - maybe recent graduates, people who stopped looking but started again, or people moving to NY - but not all of them found jobs immediately. The unemployment rate calculation includes everyone actively seeking work, not just people receiving UI benefits.
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Fidel Carson
•That makes sense! So it's like more people decided to start job hunting but there weren't enough new positions for everyone?
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Xan Dae
Yeah this confused me too when I was studying labor economics. Think of it this way - if 1000 new jobs were created but 1500 new people started looking for work, you'd see both employment and unemployment rise. The NYS Department of Labor tracks these as separate metrics. Employment measures people with jobs, unemployment measures people actively job searching without jobs.
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Fiona Gallagher
•This is exactly what happened to me last year. I re-entered the workforce after taking time off but it took 3 months to find something, so I was part of those unemployment statistics even though jobs were being created.
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Thais Soares
From a practical standpoint for filing unemployment claims, this kind of data usually means the job market is active but competitive. When I had to deal with NYS Department of Labor for my UI claim during a similar period, the job search requirements were strictly enforced since they knew positions were available. Make sure you're documenting all your job search activities properly if you end up needing to file weekly claims.
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Fidel Carson
•Good point about the job search requirements. I should probably start keeping track of applications now just in case.
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Nalani Liu
ugh the whole system is so confusing!! how can unemployment go UP when more people have jobs?? makes no sense to me but then again nothing about dealing with government agencies ever does
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Isaiah Sanders
•I know it seems counterintuitive, but it's really about the pool of people looking for work expanding. The NYS Department of Labor has to count everyone who's actively searching, whether they just lost a job or just decided to start working again.
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Axel Bourke
Just went through this with my unemployment claim. When I called NYS Department of Labor to ask about job search requirements, they mentioned that periods like this actually mean they're more strict about the work search documentation since opportunities exist. If you need to reach them for questions, I had luck using claimyr.com - they help you get through to actual agents instead of sitting on hold forever. There's a demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works.
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Fidel Carson
•Thanks for the tip! I'll keep that in mind if I need to contact them about filing a claim.
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