Labor Department: CNY regions gained jobs in the past 12 months

The Syracuse, Utica–Rome, Binghamton, Ithaca, and Watertown–Fort Drum regions all added jobs in the past year.

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 January 2015 and this past January, an increase of 0.3 percent.

The Utica–Rome metro region added 1,200 jobs, a 1 percent rise, in the same time period.

The Watertown–Fort Drum region added 900 jobs in the past 12 months, an increase of 2.2 percent.

The Binghamton region gained 100 jobs between January 2015 and this past January, a decrease of 0.1 percent.

The Ithaca region added 600 jobs in the same 12-month time period, an increase of 0.9 percent.

New York state as a whole gained more than 120,000 jobs, an increase of 1.3 percent, in the last year.

The state’s unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in January from 5 percent in December and 5.7 percent a year ago, the department reported. The 4.9 percent figure matched the national unemployment rate in January.

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