NYC Unemployment Hits 10.3%

City given grant to help laid-off Wall Street workers retrain

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 18, 2009 7:10 AM CDT

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NYC Unemployment Hits 10.3% — The jobless figures show that the recession is continuing in New York, Gov. David Paterson said. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The Big Apple's unemployment rate hit double digits last month for the first time since 1993, the New York Times reports. At 10.3%, the rate is now higher than the national rate of 9.7%. State officials say continuing layoffs on Wall Street are to blame for the rise, highlighting the need to retrain financial industry workers for other jobs.

"Our economists don’t see the financial-services sector ever coming back as strong as it was," the state's labor commissioner said. The city has received a federal "national emergency grant" of $11 million—its first since the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks—to help ex-Wall Street workers find work in other fields.
(More New York City stories.)

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