Who did unemployment affect the most in NY - looking at demographics data
I'm doing some research for a class project and trying to understand who unemployment affected the most in New York over the past few years. I know certain industries got hit harder than others, but I'm wondering about demographics too. Did younger workers file more claims? What about different racial groups or education levels? Has anyone seen any good data on this from NYS Department of Labor or other sources? I'm particularly interested in how the patterns changed from 2020 to now.
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Sofia Torres
The NYS Department of Labor releases quarterly demographic reports that break down unemployment claims by age, race, education, and industry. From what I've seen, service industry workers were disproportionately affected, especially in hospitality and retail. Younger workers (18-29) did file claims at higher rates, partly because they were more likely to be in those affected industries.
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Dylan Wright
•That makes sense about service industries. Do you know where I can find those quarterly reports? I've been looking on the NYS Department of Labor website but having trouble locating the demographic breakdowns.
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GalacticGuardian
from my experience working in HR, women were hit really hard especially in childcare and education support roles. also saw a lot of claims from people without college degrees who were working in manufacturing or food service
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Dmitry Smirnov
You'll want to look at the Labor Market Information section on the NYS Department of Labor site. They have data showing that Black and Hispanic workers filed UI claims at disproportionately higher rates compared to their share of the workforce. Part of that was industry concentration - these workers were more likely to be in customer-facing roles that got eliminated. The data also shows that unemployment hit hardest in NYC boroughs like the Bronx and Queens.
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Ava Rodriguez
•This is really helpful info. I had no idea the geographic differences were so pronounced within the state.
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Miguel Diaz
If you're having trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor for more detailed info, I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me actually reach someone there when I was researching employment trends for my own work. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Sometimes talking to an actual person can point you toward resources you might not find online.
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Dylan Wright
•Thanks for the suggestion! I might try that if I can't find what I need through the regular channels.
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Zainab Ahmed
honestly the whole system is set up to make it hard to get real answers about anything including basic statistics. been trying to get data for my nonprofit for months
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Connor Gallagher
Also check out the Federal Reserve Bank of New York - they did some good analysis on unemployment patterns by demographic groups. Their data showed that workers over 50 had longer unemployment durations even though they might not have filed as many initial claims.
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