Jobs and Industries in Nassau-Suffolk, Long Island

Wall Street alone does not handle all of the finance and inurance business in New York. On Long Island, the industry of Financial Products - primarily Insurance, Real Estate, and Banking - is quite healthy. This is bolstered by a high rate of disposable income in Long Island Households compared to the rest of America.

The top income producers and employers in Long Island finance, insurance and banking include:

1. Insurance Agencies and Brokers
2. Property/Casualty Insurance Carriers
3. Commercial Banking
4. Real Estate Credit Issuers
5. Securities Brokers
6. Savings Institutions

When local New York residents, government officials, and business people mention Long Island, they are generally referring to two of the four counties that comprise the island.

These two counties are Nassau and Suffolk, each with its own county government and top County Executive. These two counties sit together and farthest to the east of the four counties on the island and together, the two form the Nassau-Suffolk Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). [The additional two counties are Kings and Queens, which are more affiliated in some ways with NYC. They are more urban than the rest of Long Island, although Nassau-Suffolk ovvers urban, suburban, and even rural areas.]

When considering occupations and employment on Long Island, it is important to know that a greater number of individuals and/or partners start their own businesses on Long Island than the number of people hired into the fastest-gowing and other jobs available. A considerable proporation of these new businesses also seem to be successful.

Beginning in 2000, Long Island recovered fast from an economic downturn that lasted from 1980 - 1999, compelte with downsizing, business closures, and a decline in manufacturing and other industry sectors. However, the turnaround was so organized, efficient, and dramatic that it earned the nickname "The Long Island Miracle." It was very well planned.

In a series of smart moves, business leaders and innovators in areas in and around Long Island diversified industry thrugh the combined efforts of small business owners and small-to-medium sized companies that looked toward new sources of revenue.

Through organized efforts via community and business plans and organizations, small and medium-sized businesses became strong, leading Long Island in an enahnced economy throughout the early 21st century. One of these projects icnluded opening a number of protifable vineyards on former farmland in Suffolk County.

In June, 2007, the local unemployment rate was low - just 3.7%, indicating that a lot of jobs are available. For example, the nursing shortage has not lessened.

This island is the largest island in the country, jutting out from New York Harbor from southeastern New York State, into the Atlantic Ocean. It is the most high populated US island, with a total census of nearly 8 million people. Many immigrants came to Nassau-Suffolk in the 1940s - 1970s and built strong communities around high quality education and jobs.

The Aboriginal name for Long Island is Paumanok, or "Island that Pays Tribute." There is no positive connotation to this name, because the Aboriginals were not honoring anyone -- The Native American peoples on the island were more pacifist than others and were required to pay protection to these stronger tribes.

Long Island business and employment is led by small businesses, most of which employ fewer than 20 persons. Small Business itself employees at least one-half of the entire Long Island workforce.

Beginning around 2000, Long Island recovered fast from an economic downturn that lasted from 1980 - 1999, compete with downsizing, business closures, and a decline in manufacturing and other industry sectors. However, the turnaround was so organized, efficient, and dramatic that it earned the nickname "The Long Island Miracle." It was very well planned.

In a series of smart moves, business leaders and innovators in areas in and around Long Island diversified industry through the combined efforts of small business owners and small-to-medium sized companies that looked toward new sources of revenue.

Through organized efforts via community and business plans and organizations, small and medium-sized businesses became strong, leading Long Island in an enahnced economy throughout the early 21st century. One of these projects included opening a number of protifable vineyards on former farmland in Suffolk County.

In addition, area colleges and universities have partnered with business an county governments to provide Education and Training programs that directly match Long Island Business needs.

Old and new successes that began as small businesses include:

• Symbol Technologies - bar code scanners
• Festo Corporation - Over 80 years old, the leader globally of pneumatic & electromagnetical parts, such as prostheses.
• Grumman Corporation, founded 1929
• Arrow Electronics
• Canon USA
• Olympus America Inc.
• Underwriters Laboratories.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, one of the richest wellsprings of the science underlying biotechnology, are making startling strides in the fight against cancer.

A company spawned in the Long Island High Technology Incubator at Stony Brook University, where the first MRI image in history was created, has developed the first virtual colonoscopy technology to be approved by the FDA.

Brookhaven National Laboratory, where five Nobel Prizes have been won, is developing sensors, antidotes and vaccines in the fight against terrorism.

The fastest growing jobs on Long Island are all in Healthcare and Information Technology (IT), with a significant number of IT jobs in health and medical faciltities.Additional IT jobs can be found in education, professional services, and biocience & aerospace research facilities.

The Top 10 Fastest Growing Jobs on Long Island to 2018:

1. Network Systems/Data Communications Analysts
2. Medical Assistants
3. Home Health Aides
4. Diagnostic Medical Sonographers
5. Physical Therapist Assistants
6. Computer Software Engineers, Applications
7. Database Administrators
8. Network & Computer Systems Administrators
9. Physician Assistants
10. Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software

The Healthcare Industry is the largest area employer, and a large nursing shortage as well as too few home health aides, personal aides, techs, and other positions is the norm. Healthcare offers lucrative opportunities, including Travel Nursing, which offers even greater benefits. Business and Professional Services comprise the second largest employer base on the island.

Manufacturing in the computer and electronics sector is still a strong part of the manufacturing industry on Long Island. Large companies produce parts and other products for a variety of technologies and bioscience/medical use, while small and medium-sized companies specialize in certain specific components and related services. All this bolsters the production of the very active Information Technology (IT) Industry.

Tourism is a large industry on Long Island, involving nearby airports, airlines, tour companies, travel agencies, dance companies, restaurants, gift shops, hotels, theaters, theater companies, sports, recreation venues and tours, and others.

Long Island overall retail success (over $30 billion sales annually) is based on high levels of disposable income possessed by Long Islanders in general. This area has been 5th highest in average household disposable income among metro areas in the US since the early 2000s.

• North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System - 11 hospitals, Staten Island University, 4 nursing facilities and 90 ambulatory sites.
• Cablevision Systems
• Winthrop South Nassau University Health System - 2 Hospitals
• Verizon - Telecommunications
• Waldbaum's (A&P Food Stores) - Supermarkets
• J.P. Morgan Chase & Company - Global financial products and services
• KeySpan - Energy
• Long Island University
• Nassau Health Care Corp. - I hospital, 1 extended care facility, a Level 1 Trauma Center, 7 community health centers
• Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center
• Brookhaven National Laboratory - Research and development lab
• Computer Associates International (Wang) - Business software
• Nassau Community College
• Symbol Technologies - Design, make & market bar code scanners and hand-computers
• North Fork Bankcorporation

The Hauppauge Industrial Park on Long Island is the largest industrial park on the US East Coast.

Not only does it provide businesses, but also youth and adult day care so that family members working in the park can remain close to the young and the elderly that need extra care.

Other businesses range from manufacturers to attorneys and phsyicians to clean energy purveyors to hotels.

There are more than 1,300 companies in the Park, with nearly 60,000 employees. Firms are represented by the Hauppauge Industrial Association.

Career Colleges

• Island Drafting & Technical Institute http://www.idti.edu/
• Katharine Gibbs School http://www.gogibbs.com/
• Long Island Business Institute http://www.libi.edu/
• Nassau Community College http://www.ncc.edu/
• Suffolk County Community College http://www.sunysuffolk.edu/

4 Year Colleges and Universities

• Adelphi University
• Briarcliffe: The College for Business & Technology
• Dowling College
• *National Aviation & Transportation (NAT) Center
• Five Towns College
• Hofstra University ; *Frank G. Zarb School of Business; *Hofstra Museum
• Long Island University
• Molloy College
• Nassau Academy of Law
• New York Institute of Technology
• New York College for Wholistic Health, Education & Research
• Polytechnic University - Farmingdale
• Saint Joseph's College
• SUNY Farmingdale; School of Engineering Technologies
• SUNY Old Westbury
• SUNY Stony Brook; University Hospital; Graduate Programs - Certification to Teach Earth Sciences; Marine Sciences Research Center; School of Medicine; Long Island High-Tech Incubator - business startup.
• Touro College & Law Center
• United States Merchant Marine Academy
• Webb Institute

Hundreds of opportunities for spectator sports, employment among teams and venues and related tourist spots, and sports participation await job seekers and visitors on Long Island.

Baseball

• Long Island Cyclones

High School Sports

• Bellport High School Boys Basketball
• Long Island High School Hockey - New schools sign up every year.

League Sports Teams

• Long Island Ducks (ALPBC) - Long Island
• Long Island Rough Riders (USL) - Long Island
• Men's Hockey Leagues of Long Island

Professional Sports Teams

• Long Island SeaHawks - Semi-Pro Football
• Red Bull New York -Soccer. HQ in Harrison NJ.
• New York Dragons (AFL) - Long Island, Arena FB
• New York Giants (NFL) - NYC
• New York Islanders (NHL)
• New York Jets (NFL)
• New York Knicks (NBA)
• New York Liberty (WNBA)
• New York Mets (MLB)
• New York Rangers (NHL)
• New York Yankees (MLB)
• Long Island Lizards - Lacrosse
• New York Titans - Indoor Lacrosse

Venues

• Madison Square Garden - New York City;
• Nassau Coliseum - Long Island

Other Competition Sports

• New York Dogs Paintball Team
• Suffolk Archers
• G.B.S.C. Bicycle Racing Team
• Long Island Sled Hockey - For Phys. Challenged Athletes
• The Hampton Classic Horse Show
• Nassau-Suffolk Horsemen's Association
• Long Island Futsal (5 - A - Side Soccer) League
• Long Island Jam Auto Racing