The unemployment rate for NYC dropped ever so slightly in January to 10.4 percent, from a high of 10.5 percent in December, according to new statistics released by the labor department. Despite the seemingly small increment, economists are interpreting the data very favorably, according to the Times: more ›

A Queens resident was arrested today in connection with the killing of his neighbor who had tried unsuccessfully to help him find employment. The victim, Qian Wu, 46, ran an employment agency with her husband, and was found stabbed to death Tuesday in her apartment on 40th Road in Flushing, after a neighbor reported that blood had flowed under her door into the hallway. She had sought nine orders of protection against Huang Chen, 47, the most recent one filed last Friday. (Chen had previously served 30 days in prison in 2006 for assaulting the woman.) Police found him at New York Hospital Queens with blood on his shoes, and otherwise clean clothing. They questioned him, and later spotted him on a security tape leaving the apartment building soon after the crime with a bag. When they recovered the bag from a nearby park, it contained a knife, hammer and bloody clothes. more ›

Last week, we noted an uptick in Manhattan real estate sales over the past three months. Mildly positive second half sales numbers in 2009 (up from the lowest lows of March) were fueling optimism among buyers and leasers. But is this more of the same turbulence we've been hearing about for months, or is a foul new wind really blowing the market back toward its obscene, pre-crash peaks? more ›

In what the state labor department calls the "largest month-to-month increase in more than 30 years," New York City's unemployment grew 0.8% to 5.8% for August. Not surprisingly, the NY Times finds, "Many of the layoffs came in the tumbling financial sector, which is one of the city’s biggest employers and the provider of nearly one-fourth of its annual wages and salaries." Keep in mind, layoffs for Lehman and the resulting Bank of America-Merrill Lynch deal will not appear until later. The state unemployment rate is 5.8%, up from 5.2% in July; the national unemployment rate is 6.1%. more ›