Labor report: Syracuse area posts no job growth in past year

Syracuse–area private-sector employers added 300 jobs in the last year, offset by a decline of 300 government positions in the same period. So, the region’s total number of jobs was unchanged at 314,100.

That’s according to the latest monthly employment report, for August, which the New York State Department of Labor issued Thursday.

Outside the Syracuse area, the Utica–Rome, and Ithaca regions gained jobs between August 2014 and this past August. The Binghamton and Watertown–Fort Drum areas lost jobs in that same 12-month period.

The Utica–Rome region added 1,200 jobs between August 2014 and this past August, rising 0.9 percent to 129,400 positions.

The Ithaca area gained a net 600 jobs, an increase of 0.9 percent to 64,800 jobs.

The Watertown–Fort Drum region lost 400 jobs in the period, a decrease of 0.9 percent to 43,500 jobs, according to the state Labor Department data.

The Binghamton region also lost 400 jobs in the 12-month period, a decrease of 0.4 percent to 103,400 positions.

New York state as a whole gained more than 162,000 jobs, an increase of 1.8 percent, in the last year. However, the state economy lost nearly 14,000 jobs between July and August of this year, a decline of 0.1 percent, according to the report.

New York state’s unemployment rate decreased from 5.4 percent in July to 5.2 percent in August, its lowest level since May 2008. The August jobless rate is also down from 6 percent in August 2014, according to state Labor 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.