Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics the unemployment rate in New York last month dropped below 8 percent as the private sector added 17,500 jobs in May, the state Department of Labor announced this week. The jobless rate fell from 8.2 percent to 7.8 percent, the report found, but the state's rate is still above the national average of 5.8 percent and is nearly double the 2020 pre-pandemic rate. Unemployment in New York City remains high, but decreased from 11.4 to 10.9 percent. Unemployment outside of the city declined, from 5.7 to 5.5 percent. Business analysts predict it could take months for the economy and the unemployment picture to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.