New York City's unemployment rate fell in April to 8.4 percent, its lowest level in more than four years, as widespread hiring easily offset continued weakness on Wall Street, the State Labor Department reported on Thursday.
The city's unemployment rate was down half a percentage point from 8.9 percent in March and a full point from April 2012. The last time the city's rate was as low was in March 2009.
Private-sector employment in the city rose in the month by about 35,100, or more than three times as many jobs as have been added, on average, in April over the past decade, the Labor Department said. The city has added 275,200 jobs since the low point of the recession in November 2009, a gain of 7.5 percent.
The biggest gains have come in professional and business services and in the health and education fields. The biggest losses in the past year were in finance and government jobs.
The surge in hiring reversed a recent decline in the city's job market in comparison to the rest of the nation. Over the past year, the number of private sector jobs in the city has grown by 2.5 percent, while the national job count has risen by 2 percent.
Statewide, the unemployment rate is 7.8 percent, down from 8.2 percent in March. The national unemployment rate in April was 7.5 percent.
