The state Labor Department says New York's statewide unemployment rate declined from 6.2 to 6 percent last month, reaching its lowest level since October 2008.
New York City's unemployment rate fell from 6.8 to 6.4 percent.
The number of unemployed New Yorkers decreased from 586,400 in September to 572,700 in October.
Nationally, the unemployment rate was 5.8 percent for October, down from 5.9 percent in September and down from 7.2 percent a year earlier.
Over the past year, private sector jobs grew most rapidly in New York City, Long Island, the Capital District, and Kingston.
The metro areas in New York state that lost private sector jobs between October 2013 and October 2014 were Syracuse, Utica-Rome and Rochester.
