CNY, state jobless rates remain high in May amid pandemic

Syracuse region lost 55,000 jobs compared to year-ago month

Unemployment rates in the Syracuse, Utica–Rome, Watertown–Fort Drum, Binghamton, and Elmira regions remained in double-digit figures in May amid layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ithaca region was one of only two in the state (along with the Albany–Schenectady–Troy metro area) to register a single-figure jobless rate in May.

The figures are part of the latest New York State Department of Labor data released June 23.

On the job-data front, the Syracuse, Utica–Rome, and Binghamton regions lost jobs in five-digit figures between May 2019 and this past May. The Watertown–Fort Drum, Ithaca, and Elmira regions shed jobs in four-digit figures in the same period.

That’s according to the latest monthly employment report that the state Department of Labor issued June 18.

Regional unemployment rates

The jobless rate in the Syracuse area was 11.9 percent in May, up from 3.8 percent in May 2019.

The Utica–Rome region’s unemployment rate jumped to 11.2 percent from 3.9 percent in the same timeframe; the Watertown–Fort Drum area’s rate rose to 12 percent from 4.6 percent; the Binghamton region’s rate hit 10.6 percent, up from 3.9 percent; the Ithaca area’s jobless number was 7.8 percent, up from 3.3 percent; and the Elmira region’s unemployment rate jumped to 12.1 percent from 3.8 percent a year prior.

The local-unemployment data is not seasonally adjusted, meaning the figures do not 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 14.5 percent in May, down from 15.3 percent in April, but up from 4 percent in May 2019. New York’s number was higher than the U.S. jobless rate of 13.3 percent in May.

The number of unemployed New York state residents fell by 76,300, while labor-force levels increased by 5,700. 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.

May jobs data

The Syracuse region lost nearly 55,000 jobs in the past year, a decline of 17 percent.

The Utica–Rome metro area shed more than 20,000 positions, a decrease of about 16 percent; the Watertown–Fort Drum region lost 8,400 jobs, a drop of about 20 percent; the Binghamton area lost nearly 14,000 jobs, a decrease of about 13 percent; the Ithaca region lost 8,400 jobs in the last year, also a drop of 13 percent; and the Elmira area shed nearly 4,000 jobs, a 10-percent drop.

New York state as a whole lost more than 1.7 million jobs, a decrease of 18.1 percent, between May 2019 and this May. However, the state economy gained 98,000 jobs, a 1.2-percent rise, in the last month, the labor department said.