The number of Long Island jobs is growing, but not as rapidly as across New York State and nation, although health care and social services are breaking new records, according to recent data.
Long Island’s private sector job count increased by 3,700, or 0.3%, to 1,174,800 in May from a year ago. But if a gain is better than a drop, it was far less than the state’s and nation’s 1.1% growth.
Long Island’s private sector job count increased by 12,600 between April and May, also lower than the region’s 14,900 average gain for that time period.
Only two of nine private industry sectors gained jobs in May on Long Island compared to a year ago, led by private education and health services, gaining 11,900 to reach 308,7000 followed by professional and business services, which gained 2,200 to reach 192,400.
Employment in health care and social assistance sectors broke “another record in May, reaching an all-time high of 257,400,” New York State Department of Labor economist Shital Patel said.
Ambulatory health care services actually fell by 4.9% to 99,900 from 105.100, but hospitals increased jobs by 4.9% to 68,700 and nursing and residential services increased jobs by 5.5% to 36,400.
Social assistance jobs grew by 25.7% to 134,400, a massive explosion of employment. As to pinpointing what jobs that means, Patel said the child care industry may be expanding, so “we may be seeing some strength there.”
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The jobs numbers also showed some other industries in the midst of explosive growth, although not necessarily the highest paying ones.
If you’ve noticed a lot of deliveries, that could help explain a massive growth among messengers. The number of couriers and messengers rocketed by 11.6 % to 9,600 in May from 8,600 a year ago.
If you think Amazon is killing brick-and-mortar retail, then it might be interesting to note that the number of clothing, shoe and jewelry retail jobs rose 2.2% from 13,700 a year ago to 14,000.
Some other sectors, however, tumbled in terms of jobs. The specialty contractor sector fell 8.1% from 55,600 last May to 51,100, while manufacturing fell 0.4% from 69,200 jobs last May to 68,900 in May of 2025.
“Hiring in the leisure and hospitality sector ran slightly slower than what is typically seen in May,” Patel added.
Long Island’s hospitality sector added 6,200 jobs from April to May, compared to the average gain of 7,200, dragging down the overall gain, she said.
Patel said that “reluctance of foreign travelers to visit the United States is probably dampening the outlook for the summer tourism season.”
And “depressed consumer spending” could lead to lower leisure and hospitality hiring, although June’s numbers would be more significant as signs of summer.
She said in October 2024 Long Island had 0.3% job growth while leisure and hospitality fell by 0.9% year-over-year, “the first decline since the end of the pandemic.”
“Consumers are becoming cautious with their spending in this highly uncertain economic environment and rising prices,” she said. “Typically, the first areas consumers tend to cut back on are discretionary spending, like eating out at restaurants.”
Long Island’s hotel occupancy rate in May, however, showed signs of strengthening, at 74.4 percent, up 1.5 percent over the prior year, with average daily rates up 2.3 percent to $198.26, according to CoStar, a global provider of real estate data, analytics and news.
Year to date occupancy was 67.2%, up 2.2% from the prior year with an average daily rate of $166.88 up 3 %.
And some events in the future could further boost Long Island tourism. The Ryder Cup, for instance, is likely to inject added life to the Long Island hospitality industry in the fall.
It’s expected to attract 250,000 visitors to Long Island for the Sept. 23- 28 tournament, according to Discover Long Island.
