Job count rises statewide, picture mixed Upstate

New York added jobs in January, although the growth was not enough to put a dent in the unemployment rate and parts of upstate New York lost jobs since January 2012.

The state added 29,600 private sector jobs in January, an increase of 0.4 percent, according to new data from the state Labor Department. But the unemployment rate rose to 8.4 percent, up from 8.2 percent in December and the same level as January 2012.

The U.S. unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in January, up from 7.8 percent in December, but down from 8.3 percent in January 2012.

New York added a total of 102,600 private sector jobs between January 2012 and 2013, an increase of 1.4 percent.

Locally, the Syracuse area lost 200 private sector jobs between January 2012 and 2013, a dip of 0.1 percent. The Utica-Rome area also lost 200 private sector jobs in the period, a drop of 0.2 percent, while the Binghamton area gained 100 positions, up 0.1 percent.

“New York state’s strong economy continues to grow in 2013 and is setting records for consecutive job growth,” Bohdan Wynnyk, deputy director of the division of research and statistics at the Labor Department, said in a news release. “In January, the state’s private sector job count increased by 29,600, accounting for nearly one in five jobs created in the nation.”

January was the 17th consecutive month of private sector job growth in New York, a new state record, according to the Labor Department. The department will release unemployment figures for metro areas around the state Tuesday.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com