Local job creation sags

New York and surrounding states are still stuck in the jobs doldrums.

The tri-state area created barely 20,000 private-sector jobs in July, according to the latest ADP Regional Employment Report.

And neighboring Pennsylvania actually lost a few jobs, making it the nation’s worst-performing state for private-sector workers last month.

California had the biggest private-sector gains in the nation: 33,440 were reported by ADP.

The news is a blow for the New York region, with unemployment at 7.5 percent in the Empire State, 8.7 percent in New Jersey, 8.1 percent in Connecticut and 7.5 percent in Pennsylvania.

Of course, October’s Superstorm Sandy didn’t help. It contributed to the huge 160,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in New Jersey and New York in November, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. And that put a drag on the local labor markets into 2013.

The ADP report showed New York generating an unsensational 14,140 private-sector jobs last month, though outpacing New Jersey, with 4,200, and Connecticut, with 1,580.