NYC jobless rate hits 10.3 pct, highest in 16 yrs

NEW YORK Oct 15 (Reuters) - New York City's unemployment rate in September hit 10.3 percent, the highest since May 1993, as the economy kept shrinking and sectors that usually hire underperformed, a state labor market analyst said on Thursday.

The latest rate was up sharply from the 6.2 percent rate seen in September 2008 though it only rose one-tenth of a percentage point from August 2009.

The rate in The Bronx, New York City's poorest borough, also climbed one-tenth of a percentage point, hitting 13.3 percent.

New York state's unemployment rate was level at 8.9 percent -- but up from 5.8 percent in September 2008.

Wall Street powers the economies of both the city and the state and the ranks of investment bankers, securities and commodities employees only shed 100 people in September from August, James Brown, the labor market analyst said by telephone.

This was a much smaller drop than is typical for September, when Wall Street bids farewell to its summer interns. "But if you don't hire interns, you're not going to be laying them off," he said.

Partly because Wall Street employees often collect severance for as long as three years, many of them have yet to show up in official jobs data, which show that the total workforce of 161,000 in September had only lost 26,800 people from a year-ago.

Employment on Wall Street last peaked at 192,000 in 2007 but this total was still short of the record of just over 200,000 employees that was hit in 2000, Brown said.

City Comptroller William Thompson in a statement said that the number of New Yorkers who have been unemployed for at least 80 weeks more than doubled from the first quarter to 35,734 in the third quarter. And 425,507 individuals have not been able to find jobs for at least five weeks.

The overall finance and insurance sector lost 1,100 positions in September from August, and was down 26,800 from a year-ago. Professional and business services cut 4,800 jobs in September and this workforce has sliced 25,500 people since a year-ago.

In sheer numbers, the government sector's loss of 48,700 workers in September was the biggest by far.

But this surprisingly large drop was due to the large number of interns that were hired for the summer, thanks to the federal economic stimulus plan, Brown said.

The construction sector shed 2,200 jobs in September from August and has cut 11,500 workers since a year-ago, he said.

Builders in the Northeast often wait to lay off workers in winter. In September, New York City's construction industry sometimes hires and sometimes cuts workers in that month. "But it generally doesn't fall that much," Brown said.

The leisure and hospitality sector, which rises and falls with tourism and the generosity of Wall Street bonuses, sliced 600 workers. Its total workforce has declined by 3,800 positions from September 2008, Brown said. "It's not a huge drop, but it usually goes up in September," he said.

The retail industry hired 2,700 workers in September but is still down by 11,000 people from a year-ago. Brown said that when the economy is strong, 4,500 people might be hired in September.

The education and health services group hired 3,200 people and this workforce has climbed by 10,600 people from a year-ago. The latest increase was considered small -- and might have been artificially held down because the U.S. Labor Day holiday was later than usual, Brown said.

(Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Diane Craft)