New York's statewide unemployment rate decreased from 4.7% to 4.6% last month. That's according to preliminary figures released by the New York State Department of Labor on Thursday. From December 2016 to December 2017, New York State's private sector job count rose by 111,700, or 1.4%. Over the month, the state's private sector job count was essentially unchanged, down by 200 in December 2017. According to a Labor Department spokesman, the slight drop in the unemployment rate was due in part to a decrease in the number of unemployed.
