New York City ‘s economy charged forward between January 2006 and January 2007, with strong private sector employment growth and a lower unemployment rate.

The state’s Department of Labor reported on Wednesday that private sector employment in the city rose by 60,600, or 2%, in 2006. Unemployment in January 2007 stood at 4.9%, down from 5.5% one year earlier.

Health and business services appear to be driving the city’s economic expansion. The health care and social assistance sectors added 18,300 jobs, while professional and business services added 16,800.

Every year, the city sheds jobs during the winter season, but 2007 marks the smallest January loss since 1999. A market analyst for the city’s labor department, James Brown, attributes the robust winter job market to construction activity. Mr. Brown speculated that construction crews “benefited from springlike temperatures in the first half of January.”

He said the most interesting economic change was in air transportation, where employment rose by 6%. He said that despite fuel costs, the industry is keeping apace with the growing local economy.

The city’s current economic expansion began in mid-2003, when businesses began to recover from the slowdown associated with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The manufacturing industry bucks the growth trend: Over the past year, manufacturing lost 6,300 jobs in New York City alone.