New York may have added private-sector jobs in December, but unemployment rates in the Binghamton, Syracuse, and Utica-Rome areas crept higher.
That’s according to new information from the New York State Department of Labor. The department released area unemployment rates today, less than a week after publishing data that showed the state added over 34,000 private-sector jobs in December.
The Binghamton area’s unemployment rate hit 8.8 percent in December of 2012, up from 8 percent the previous month and 8.3 percent in December of 2011. The Syracuse area posted an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent in December 2012, up from 7.8 percent in November and 8.2 percent in December the previous year.
And Utica-Rome’s unemployment rate notched 8.6 percent in December of 2012, up from 7.9 percent the month before and 8.1 percent the year before.
The statewide unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in December 2012, above the national average of 7.8 percent. Upstate’s tallied 8.4 percent.
Tompkins County was home to the lowest unemployment rate in the state in December, 5.6 percent. But New York’s central region also hosted three of the state’s six highest unemployment rates. Oswego County had the second-highest rate at 11 percent. Hamilton County had the fourth-highest rate at 10.8 percent. And Lewis County tied with Essex County for the fifth-highest rate at 10.7 percent.
Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com