New York is struggling with unemployment, with last week’s claims 26.92% higher than the week before and 10.95% higher than last year, according to WalletHub’s updated rankings for the States Where Unemployment Claims Are Increasing the Most.
Unemployment Situation in New York (1=Worst; 25=Avg.):
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Overall Rank for New York: 3rd
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5th – Unemployment Claims Increase vs. Previous Week
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10th – Unemployment Claims Increase vs. Same Week Last Year
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33rd – Cumulative Unemployment Claims in 2025 vs. Same Period Last Year
- 7th – Unemployment Claims per 100,000 People in Labor Force
Expert Commentary
Given the current circumstances, what trends do you expect to see in terms of unemployment in the foreseeable future?
“The unemployment rate will likely stay relatively low, but that hides some continuing weaknesses in the labor market, including those working part-time when they would prefer full-time, those who are underemployed relative to their skill set, and those who have exited the market prematurely or stay on the sidelines (and are those not counted as unemployed) because they cannot find suitable work.”
Joyce P. Jacobsen – Professor, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Wesleyan University
“Unemployment will still continue to be an issue in some industries and in some locations. As the workforce gets tighter aligning the available workers with the available jobs becomes the more critical challenge. I foresee that employers are going to have to look more closely at the upcoming availability of new workers in a geographic region, with the skill sets, or with the ability to acquire those skill sets, as they look for site locations of future businesses. Where are the workers going to come from? If unemployment is low, how are you going to attract the workers you need away from other employers? How are you going to keep them once you have them? You can have the best business plan, and the best product, if you don't have the people to make that product, how successful will you be.”
Douglas Swanson, Ed.D, ACUE – Labor Studies Program Coordinator; Associate Professor, University of St. Louis Missouri
What are your predictions for the job market as we move forward during 2025 (job gains, hiring confidence, quit rates etc.)?
“Quit rates have fallen significantly since the record highs in the immediate post-pandemic days and are likely to stay low or decline further. Businesses are likely to vary in their hiring patterns depending on whether they end up being net winners or losers under the new federal administration’s policies. And, of course, it remains to be seen what the effects will be of increasing use of AI. It is unlikely to have large effects over 2025, other than continuing high demand for those few workers who have a solid understanding of AI programming and usage.”
Joyce P. Jacobsen – Professor, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Wesleyan University
“I think in 2025 and probably throughout the rest of this decade we are going to see a return to employers bringing the training in house and recruiting people who have potential to do the jobs that they need. If done right that could actually help create a situation that tailors the workers interest, with the employers needs creating the workplace loyalty that we often hear from employers that they don't believe exists any longer. As workers have more options in employment, and if they are not happy with their work and/or conditions, they will explore the other options that are out there. When unemployment was in the double digits, you often heard of workers keeping the job that they had, regardless, because finding another one was not as easy. That is the dynamic that is changing. Already I am seeing employers shifting from a focus on ‘how do we hire’ to ‘how do we retain’ the workers we have.”
Douglas Swanson, Ed.D, ACUE – Labor Studies Program Coordinator; Associate Professor, University of St. Louis Missouri
Do you think the hiring dynamic is currently tilted in favor of employees or employers?
“The hiring dynamic for higher end jobs is tilting increasingly in favor of employers. Recent evidence that 30 to 40 percent of job listings on websites are fake…make job searches even more exhausting for white-collar workers. On the other hand, at the lower pay end of the job market, there are still shortages and high turnover in many areas, including service workers in general and food and hospitality workers in particular, …and if immigrant workers leave the economy, the lower pay end work shortages will be even worse.”
Joyce P. Jacobsen – Professor, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Wesleyan University
“I believe the dynamic has shifted, or at least begun its shift, from the employer’s advantage to the employee’s advantage…Already annually many states are experiencing more workers retiring from the workforce then they are seeing high school graduates entering the workforce. Couple that with the often rapidly changing immigration policies, which has resulted in some of the lowest immigration years in our nation's history, occurring in the past decade, I foresee the workforce getting tighter and as a result employees having greater options. That is why I think the dynamics are shifting and are going to continue to shift even more in the coming years.”
Douglas Swanson, Ed.D, ACUE – Labor Studies Program Coordinator; Associate Professor, University of St. Louis Missouri