CNY regions add jobs in the last year, Labor Department reports

The Syracuse, Utica–Rome, Binghamton, Ithaca, and Watertown–Fort Drum regions gained jobs in the past 12 months.

That’s according to the latest monthly employment report that the New York State Department of Labor issued on Thursday.

The Syracuse region gained 1,000 jobs between March 2015 and this past March, an increase of 0.3 percent.

The Utica–Rome metro area added 800 jobs, a 0.6 percent rise, in the same time period.

The Watertown–Fort Drum region also added 800 jobs in the past 12 months, an increase of 2 percent.

The Binghamton area gained 600 jobs between March 2015 and this past March, an increase of 0.6 percent.

The Ithaca region added 400 jobs in the same 12-month time period, an increase of 0.6 percent.

New York state as a whole gained more than 141,000 jobs, an increase of 1.6 percent, in the last year. The state economy added more than 14,000 jobs between February and March, a rise of 0.2 percent.

Private-sector jobs
The Syracuse region gained 700 private-sector jobs in the past year, an increase of 0.3 percent, according to the state Labor Department data.

The Utica–Rome area also added 700 private-sector positions, a gain of 0.8 percent.

The Watertown–Fort Drum region gained 1,000 private-sector positions, representing an increase of 3.5 percent in the last 12 months, according to the report.

The Ithaca area added 500 private-sector positions between March 2015 and this past March, an increase of 0.8 percent.

The Binghamton region gained 700 private-sector jobs, a rise of 0.9 percent.

New York state’s economy added nearly 134,000 private-sector jobs, a 1.7 percent gain in the last 12 months, with most of those positions located Downstate.

The state also gained nearly 13,000 private-sector jobs, a 0.2 percent increase, in the last month, the state Labor Department reported.

The job gains increased the state’s overall private-sector job count to nearly 7.9 million positions, a “new record high,” according to preliminary figures that the state Labor Department released.

The state’s private-sector job count is based on a payroll survey of 18,000 New York state employers that the U.S. Department of Labor conducts.

New York state’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.8 percent in March, compared to February, the department said in its news release. But the rate is down from 5.6 percent in March 2015.

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.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com