CNY shed more than 34,000 jobs in last year Unemployment rates in the Syracuse, Utica–Rome, Watertown–Fort Drum, Binghamton, and Elmira regions remained in single-digit figures in December and most were higher compared to a year ago amid the effects of layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The jobless rate […]
CNY shed more than 34,000 jobs in last year
Unemployment rates in the Syracuse, Utica–Rome, Watertown–Fort Drum, Binghamton, and Elmira regions remained in single-digit figures in December and most were higher compared to a year ago amid the effects of layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The jobless rate for the Watertown–Fort Drum area was lower than the figure from the same month in 2019. The data was part of the latest New York State Department of Labor data released Jan. 26.
In addition, the Syracuse and Utica–Rome regions lost jobs in five-digit figures between December 2019 and this past December.
At the same time, the Watertown–Fort Drum, Binghamton, Ithaca, and Elmira metro areas lost jobs in four-digit figures in the same period.
That’s according to the latest monthly employment report that the New York State Department of Labor issued Jan. 21.
Regional unemployment rates
The jobless rate in the Syracuse area was 6.4 percent in December, up from 4.5 percent in December 2019.
The Utica–Rome region’s unemployment rate hit 6.4 percent, up from 4.7 percent a year prior; the Watertown–Fort Drum area’s number was 6.3 percent, down from 6.9 percent; the Binghamton region’s rate rose to 6.2 percent from 4.9 percent; the Ithaca area’s jobless number reached 4.3 percent from 3.3 percent; and the unemployment rate in the Elmira region was 6.7 percent in December, up from 4.5 percent in the same month a year ago.
The local-unemployment data isn’t seasonally adjusted, meaning the figures don’t 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 8.2 percent in December, down from 8.4 percent in November, according to preliminary figures released by the New York State Department of Labor.
The number of unemployed New Yorkers also decreased over the month, by 20,200, from 764,500 to 744,300. This represents the fifth straight month of declining unemployment rates in New York State, “bucking the national trend,” the state Labor Department said.
However, the 8.2 percent unemployment rate was higher than the U.S. jobless rate of 6.7 percent in December. It was also significantly higher than the 3.9 percent state unemployment rate in December 2019, 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.
December jobs data
The Syracuse region lost more than 34,000 jobs in the past year, representing a decrease of 10.6 percent.
The Utica–Rome metro area lost more than 10,000 jobs, a drop of 8 percent; the Watertown–Fort Drum region shed nearly 4,000 jobs, a decrease of 9 percent; the Binghamton area lost 6,600 jobs, a decline of 6 percent; the Ithaca region shed 3,000 jobs, a decrease of 5 percent; and the Elmira area lost more than 2,000 jobs, a drop of about 6 percent.
New York state as a whole lost more than 1 million jobs, a decrease of 10 percent, in that 12-month period. The state economy also lost more than 37,000 jobs, a 0.4 percent decrease, between November and December of 2020, the labor department said.