Unemployment rates in the Syracuse, Utica–Rome, Binghamton, and Elmira regions were mostly below 6 percent in November 2020 but remained higher compared to a year ago amid the continuing negative economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and government restrictions on business activity. Bucking the trend, the jobless rate in the Watertown–Fort Drum area was lower this past […]
Unemployment rates in the Syracuse, Utica–Rome, Binghamton, and Elmira regions were mostly below 6 percent in November 2020 but remained higher compared to a year ago amid the continuing negative economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and government restrictions on business activity.
Bucking the trend, the jobless rate in the Watertown–Fort Drum area was lower this past November than in November 2019.
The figures are part of the latest New York State Department of Labor data released Dec. 22.
On the job-growth side, the Syracuse region lost jobs in five-digit figures between November 2019 and this past November. The Utica–Rome, Binghamton, Watertown–Fort Drum, Ithaca, and Elmira areas lost jobs in four-digit figures in the same period.
That’s according to the latest monthly employment report that the New York State Department of Labor issued Dec. 17.
Regional unemployment rates
The jobless rate in the Syracuse area was 5.6 percent in November, up from 4 percent in November 2019.
The Utica–Rome region’s jobless rate was 5.6 percent, up from 4.1 percent a year earlier; the Watertown–Fort Drum area’s number fell to 5.3 percent in November from 5.9 percent a year ago; the Binghamton region’s rate hit 5.4 percent, up from the 4.2 percent; the Ithaca area came in at 4.0 percent, up from 3.3 percent; and the unemployment rate in the Elmira region was 6.1 percent in November, up from 3.9 percent in the same month a year ago.
The local-unemployment data isn’t seasonally adjusted, meaning the figures don’t reflect seasonal influences such as holiday hires.
The unemployment rates are calculated following procedures prescribed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state Labor Department said.
State unemployment rate
New York state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.4 percent in November 2020, down from 9.2 percent in October, but up sharply from 3.9 percent in November 2019.
The 8.4 percent unemployment rate was higher than the U.S. jobless rate of 6.7 percent in November.
The federal government calculates New York’s unemployment rate partly based upon the results of a monthly telephone survey of 3,100 state households that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics conducts.
November jobs data
The Syracuse region lost more than 33,000 jobs in the past year, a decline of 10.2 percent.
The Utica–Rome metro area lost more than 9,000 jobs, a drop of about 7 percent; the Watertown–Fort Drum region shed nearly 4,000 jobs, a decrease of 9 percent; the Binghamton area lost 6,600 jobs, a slippage of about 6 percent; the Ithaca region shed nearly 3,000 jobs, a decline of 4 percent; and the Elmira area lost nearly 3,000 jobs, a drop of about 8 percent.
New York state as a whole lost more than 975,000 jobs, a decrease of 10 percent, in that 12-month period. The state economy gained more than 29,000 jobs, or a 0.3 percent increase, between October and November, the labor department said.
