Report: CNY metro areas post job declines in the last year

The Syracuse, Utica–Rome, and Binghamton regions lost jobs in the last year, as the state unemployment fell from 6.4 percent to 6.2 percent in September, itslowest level since October 2008.

That’s according to the latest monthly employment report from the New York State Department of Labor issued Thursday.

The Syracuse metro area lost 1,200 total jobs between September 2013 and this September, a decline of 0.4 percent, the department said in its news release.

The Utica–Rome region shed 700 jobs in the same period, a decline of 0.5 percent. The Binghamton region lost 200 jobs in that 12-month time span, a decline of 0.2 percent, according to the state Labor Department data.

The Ithaca region gained 100 jobs between September 2013 and this September, an increase of 0.1 percent, the department said.

The Syracuse year-over-year job decline compares to a 2,600-job gain in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls area; a 3,100-job gain in the Albany–Schenectady–Troy region; and a 500-job gain in the Rochester region, according to the department data.

The Syracuse and Binghamton regions also lost the same number of private-sector positions. In the Syracuse region, those job losses represented a 0.5 percent decline, according to the department data.

The Utica–Rome region shed 300 private-sector positions, a decline of 0.3 percent.

The Ithaca region posted no change in private-sector positions between September 2013 and this September, according to state Labor Department data.

Statewide figures
New York state’s economy added 4,500 private-sector jobs in September 2014, representing an increase of 0.1 percent compared to August, the department said. This latest monthly employment gain raised New York’s overall private-sector employment to 7,614,500, an “all-time high.”

The state’s private-sector job count is based on a payroll survey of 18,000 New York state employers that the U.S. Department of Labor conducts.

New York state’s unemployment rate fell to 6.2 percent in September from 6.4 percent in August and 7.5 percent in September 2013.

In the last year, private-sector employers in New York have added 120,500 jobs, an increase of 1.6 percent. However, 117,500 of those new jobs were located downstate, according to state Labor Department data.

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