CNY regions added jobs in the past year, Labor Department reports

The Syracuse, Utica–Rome, Binghamton, Ithaca, and Watertown–Fort Drum regions all 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 added 300 jobs between February 2015 and this past February, an increase of 0.1 percent.

The Utica–Rome metro area gained 1,300 positions, a 1.1 percent increase, in the same period.

The Watertown–Fort Drum region added 1,100 jobs in the past 12 months, a rise of 2.7 percent.

The Binghamton area gained 100 jobs between February 2015 and this past February, an increase of 0.1 percent.

The Ithaca region added 1,300 jobs in the same 12-month time period, up 1.8 percent.

New York state as a whole gained more than 130,000 jobs, an increase of 1.4 percent, in the last year. The state economy added more than 25,000 jobs between January and February, an increase of 0.3 percent.

Private-sector jobs
The private-sector job gain of 100 positions in the Syracuse region in the past year equals the number of private-sector jobs lost in the same time period, according to the state Labor Department data.

The Utica–Rome area added 1,100 private-sector positions, a gain of 1.2 percent.

The Watertown–Fort Drum region gained 1,300 private-sector jobs, an increase of 4.6 percent in the last 12 months, according to the report.

The Ithaca area added 1,400 private-sector positions between February 2015 and this past February, a rise of 2.2 percent.

The Binghamton region gained 400 private-sector jobs, up 0.5 percent.

New York state’s economy added nearly 123,000 private-sector jobs, a 1.6 percent gain, in the last 12 months, with most of those positions located Downstate.

The state also gained nearly 19,000 private-sector jobs, a 0.2 percent increase, in the last month, the state Labor Department reported.

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 fell to 4.8 percent in February from 4.9 percent in January, the department said in its news release. The 4.8 percent statewide jobless figure slipped below the national unemployment rate of 4.9 percent in February.

The February figure of 4.8 percent is also down from 5.7 percent a year prior, according to department figures.

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