U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics Report Massive Job Losses In NYS

New York, NY (WIBX) - A Regional Economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is calling attention to the massive job losses reported last year in the state. Martin Kohli says 119,398 people lost their jobs in 2011 due to the still struggling economy. Kohli said, "It's connected to the downturn of the economy. After the financial crisis in the late part of 2008, we saw a massive increase in the number of mass layoffs in New York and we hit a series high in 2009, and a lot of employers are still struggling."

He says the Transportation, Warehousing, Construction and Food Services industries, saw some of the largest number of people filing for unemployment benefits. Also, he says local government led the list, with 52.2 percent in the number of people filing benefit claims due to the mass layoffs. "And, what's new this year is actually that we've had more layoffs in local goverment than we've had before in the history of this series," he said. Kohli says  local government throughout the state saw about 10,000 claims of people filing for unemployment benefits in 2011.

He says the solution for a healthy recovery is going to require that people spend more money on U.S. made goods and services. Also he says, buying goods in New York will help boost the state's economy and put more people living in the state to work. He ads that supporting the Buy Local Movement can actually contribute to a healthy economic recovery.