Report: Syracuse, Binghamton lost jobs in past 12 months, other CNY areas added jobs in same period

The Syracuse and Binghamton regions lost jobs in the past 12 months, while the Utica–Rome, Watertown–Fort Drum, and Ithaca regions gained jobs in the same time period.

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

The Syracuse region lost 600 jobs between July 2015 and this past July, a decrease of 0.2 percent. The Binghamton region lost 1,300 jobs, or 1.3 percent, in the same time period.

The Utica–Rome metro region added 900 jobs between July 2015 and this past July, an increase of 0.7 percent.

The Watertown–Fort Drum region added 1,100 jobs in the past 12 months, an increase of 2.5 percent.

The Ithaca region gained 1,900 jobs in the same 12-month time period, an increase of 2.8 percent.

New York state as a whole gained nearly 132,000 jobs, an increase of 1.4 percent, in the last year. The state economy gained more than 37,000 jobs between June and July, an increase of 0.4 percent.

Private-sector jobs
The Syracuse region lost 700 private-sector jobs between July 2015 and this past July, a decrease of 0.3 percent, according to the state Labor Department data.

The Binghamton region lost 1,000 private-sector jobs, a decrease of 1.2 percent.

The Utica–Rome area added 1,200 private-sector positions, a gain of 1.2 percent.

The Watertown-Fort Drum region also gained 1,200 private-sector positions, representing an increase of 3.7 percent in the last 12 months, according to the report.

The Ithaca area gained 2,200 private-sector positions between July 2015 and this past July, an increase of 3.7 percent.

New York state’s economy added nearly 127,000 private-sector jobs, a 1.6 percent increase in the last 12 months, with most of those positions located Downstate.

The state also gained more than 36,000 private-sector jobs, a 0.5 percent increase, between June and July, the state Labor Department reported.

The job gains increased the state’s overall private-sector job count to 7,951,900 million positions, a “new record high,” according to preliminary figures that the state Labor Department released.

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 remained unchanged at 4.7 percent in July, the department said in its news release. The 4.7 percent unemployment rate represents New York’s lowest rate since August 2007 and was below the U.S. unemployment rate of 4.9 percent in July.

The July figure of 4.7 percent is also down from 5.1 percent in July 2015, 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.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com