By Jerry Gleeson/The Journal News

A sharp uptick in job cuts at public schools in the Lower Hudson Valley contributed to overall employment losses in July, the state Labor Department said Friday.

July is a volatile month for labor statistics, Nelson said. He wanted to watch whether the sharp dropoff in local public education employment continues in the coming months before he would call a trend.

Job losses in some districts this year were pronounced.

In Yonkers, 116 positions were cut.

The North Rockland school district has been shaken by millions of dollars in tax refunds it was forced to make to the energy company Mirant after the company’s successful assessment lawsuit. North Rockland cut 58 positions this year, although Burrell said about 24 were restored through federal stimulus funds.

Lisa Davis, executive director of the Westchester-Putnam School Boards Association, said enrollment is flattening in the region, reducing pressure on hiring.

But larger economic issues also came to bear, she added.

“There was a real significant shift this year, a lot of it coming from the state cutting back on the amount of money,” Davis said.

Virtually every district has had net decreases in staffing, she said, but attrition due to retirements could offset the need for layoffs.

Carl Korn of the New York State United Teachers said federal stimulus spending added $1.2 billion in educational aid in the state.

But the net increase was actually $500 million because of aid cuts that had been proposed in the governor’s original budget, he added.

He estimated that 5,000 to 7,000 teaching and support staff jobs would be eliminated across the state this year.

For people looking for work in other categories of employment, the outlook remained clouded.

At the Labor Department’s office in White Plains, Diane Liggio of Mamaroneck had just finished a workshop on job interview techniques.

Liggio lost her position of 20 years as an executive assistant at an insurance business in Greenwich, Conn., in early June. The office was closed and moved to Chicago after the company was bought out, she said.

She’s had about three interviews during the summer, but no job offers.

Liggio says she doesn’t expect to have another job until the economy changes, something she doesn’t see happening for another year.

“A lot of recruiters tell me not to take it personally,” Liggio said. “I do stay optimistic. I’m good at what I do. … I come from the school where you go to work, you do your job.”