New York City private employers hired 14,000 workers in November, outpacing New Jersey, whose governor just one day ago took credit for the addition of 9,300 employees.

However, New York's Norman Steele, deputy director of research and statistics, in a statement on Thursday said that New York on the whole has recently had a saw-tooth pattern of gains, which he said mirrored the national experience.

New York state's overall gain was quite small -- just 700 private sector jobs but it follows October's very large gain of 37,800, he noted.

Republican Governor Chris Christie has won a national reputation for closing a multibillion-dollar deficit without raising taxes, and an article in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday quoted him as saying his administration had spurred the hiring spate by creating optimism and certainty regarding New Jersey's business climate in the future because of the tough things we've done on our spending and taxes.

A Christie spokesman was not immediately available.

New Jersey employers sliced 115,600 jobs in the first 11 months of last year.

New York state's unemployment rate slipped a tenth of a percentage point to 8.3 percent in November from October. Last month's level was down six-tenths of a point from a year earlier, its labor department said. New Jersey's labor agency said its jobless rate was unchanged at 9.2 percent, and down seven-tenths of a point from a year-ago.

New York City's unemployment in November also eased a tenth of a percentage point to 9.1 percent from October, and compared favorably with the year-ago higher reading of 10.5 percent.

Wall Street, which drives the city's economy, hired 1,200 individuals at commodities and brokerages, according to data city labor market analysts provided. But this sector, which totals 162,200, has only grown 0.2 percent from a year ago.

Banking, from savings and loans to credit companies, lost 200 workers and now only employs 85,800 individuals. The overall finance and insurance sector hired 1,400 people and this workforce climbed to 312,300.

Professional and business services -- accounting, legal firms and such -- hired 3,800 people and totals 583,500.

Reflecting the city's strength as a center for academia and medicine, the educational-health services sector added 8,100 jobs. Tourism was another strong suit: the leisure and hospitality industry hired 1,400 workers. But the construction and mining category cut 2,100 workers, squeezing the workforce to 118,100.

(Editing by James Dalgleish)

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